


The Cult of Loki

by Philothauma_Kaefaut



Category: Earth-89971, Earth-89971 (Marvel), Marvel Cinematic Extended Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action & Romance, F/F, Gay Male Character, Gay Peter Parker, Gothic, M/M, Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One Compliant, Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2019-08-24 17:42:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 96,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16644830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Philothauma_Kaefaut/pseuds/Philothauma_Kaefaut
Summary: After a life-threatening fight with a madman named Octavius, who used four mechanical arms in an attempt to spread carnage throughout New York City, Parker and Ross wish to do nothing other than tinker in their robotics Workshop. But, the day after their fight, a new form of evil rises from the dust of New York in the shape of the Cult of Loki. Parker and Ross deepen their relationship, explore the secret colonial tunnels of New York, find mind puzzling relics, fight mask-wearing cultists with magic knives, and uncover secrets hidden in New York for years





	1. Book I of the Cult of Loki: A New Threat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amico Proximo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Amico+Proximo).



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _The First Book of_ **_The Cult of Loki_ ** 

 _or_  

 **_The First Book of Five_ ** **_on_ ** **_the Tales of Peter Parker and_ ** **_Jóżef_ ** **** **_Ross Against the_ ** **_Lokians_ ** 

 

 

 _Chapter I. New Suit, Same Problem_  

How many years had it been since they had met? If Jóżef recalled correctly, which he almost always did, it had been three years now. Three years of fighting crime with Peter Parker, three years spent learning almost everything there was to learn about Peter. . . another three years spent not knowing  _enough_ about him, which included meeting the other man’s aunt. Peter had not met Jóżef’s parents either, but in truth, neither of them had ever been given a reason to do so. 

They would spend time outside of work together, fight together in both Queens and Staten Island, design technology together. . . all of that became something much deeper in the past two years: Jóżef had come out to Peter about wanting to date him, and Peter was more than open to going on a date with the older of the two men. 

From that first date in two-thousand-eighteen to this grand celebratory moment almost exactly two years later, the two had been engaged in a sweet secretive romance. Both of them wished to maintain anonymity due to Peter’s family relations and Jóżef having issues with someone deeply involved in Peter’s life as a father figure. Things were changing now, however, ever since the news headline  _Spider-Man seen swinging from rooftops with near-naked man on his back_. That was a mostly true headline, even if it was sensationalist. The story behind it was a bet, an impulsive bet that Jóżef of course proposed. His claim was that if he removed his suit and got onto Peter’s back, they would see photos of it all over social media. 

Unfortunately, or perhaps very fortunately, he was right, but this also led to Peter’s father figure and his friend, Happy, endlessly calling Peter about the subject, Jóżef’s parents demanding to meet whose back he was on (since they knew what their own son looked like without a full body suit on), and Peter’s aunt also asking questions. Jóżef was to meet Peter’s aunt on Sunday, and Peter was to meet Jóżef's parents on the Wednesday of that week.  

The day before today the two were celebrating their victory over a man with four mechanical arms, an eye sensitivity to light which caused him to wear shades everywhere he went, and a diabolical plan to get revenge on the people he blamed for his accident during the New York Incident of Two-Thousand-Eight. 

Sure, Jóżef had come out of the situation only thanks to the grace of his boyfriend defeating a maniac who kidnapped him and stripped his entire suit for spare vibranium, but it was a victory none the less. It was for this reason that Jóżef was at his lab today, while Peter went to speak with his father figure about the  _naked man on his back_. Jóżef had made Stark a treat in hopes of persuading him to be a bit kinder to the situation; Jóżef had cooked a pączek for Stark, a polish doughnut which he made with his own special recipe of a cream filling with maraschino cherries which had the stems removed, with sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon for coating. Jóżef would not learn if this worked till Peter came to the workshop. 

As his  _stolen_  copy of the J.A.R.V.I.S. AI was finishing up with the vibranium and nanotech made suit, Jóżef heard a loud wail in his  _mostly_  secluded area of Staten Island. The area was one of the few heavily  _urban_  centres in the borough but it remained fixated to a rural area. Jóżef could not go outside unarmed, since his suit was still in the process of being produced he grabbed a hold of a bean bag pistol, not too much unlike an ML12f and headed outside, taking a turn from his small shop which was also disguised as a commercial workshop where he could teach people the basics of engineering and get the cash he needed to help pay for his and Peter’s apartment rent. The classes were not official but he mostly got high school students who wanted to jump into the “cool parts,” so he would teach them and he would get more than enough money for his needs. 

As Jóżef went outside he turned to his left where he was sure the bone-chilling scream came from, his weapon held at ready. As he turned into an alleyway he was caught with the sight of three people. 

Two of them were wearing masks based on Viking helmets. They covered the entirety of the wearer’s face, save for the two eyeholes and the simple mouth slit, shaped similarly to an oval. A shadow was cast over the mouth but the eyes were visible, the mask was made almost entirely out of wood and the only aspect of it that was metal was a bar that went from the top of the head to what would have been the nose, with five evenly spaced out solid rivets along the bar. The two masked men were wearing simple men's civilian clothing. 

The third of them was a woman: she had blond hair, grey eyes, and soft features, she was constantly struggling to free herself from the grasp of the man who had his forearm placed around her neck. 

“Let her go before I break your fingers one at a time!” Jóżef aimed his pistol at one of them. The world seemed to go to a standstill at this point, the air becoming dry as the stalemate reached its third second. There was a noise not too dissimilar to the click of a ruler crashing down on a desk due to a student pulling one end back harshly and releasing the tension. And just like that, the man to his left was down on the ground, unconscious due to the strength of the bean bag. Like clockwork, Jóżef was firing at the next man. By this point, two things had happened: the man who held the woman had pulled out a small seax, and the second thing was that he had thrown the woman to the side to properly defend himself. 

Jóżef’s resolve was only strengthened as he was confronted by a man with a knife, he fired the last three bean bag rounds and was caught off guard when the man moved his hand, yet it seemed as if he had not moved at all. But he must have, Jóżef saw the movement of his wrist but it was. . . so quick. There was the strange remnant of some sort of “aura,” like a time stamp of the man’s wrist movement which dissipated from sight. 

As Jóżef began reloading the bean bag pistol he was faced with a crucial decision. He would have to either ensure the woman’s safety or chase down the man who was dragging his unconscious comrade off. Jóżef was not sure if there were more masked men waiting off near his workshop, so he decided he would catch two petty criminals later who decided to run around do attack people with masks on. The mask fell off of the unconscious man, oh how he wishes he had his suit, he could have taken pictures of the unconscious man’s face and gone through police records to try and find more info.  

Instead, he took a hold of the mask which fell and looked at the back of it before walking over to the woman who had just escaped a possible meeting with the grim reaper. “ma’am, what do you know about the masks?” Jóżef looked at the sketching on the back of the mask. What was displayed was something similar to the staff of Hermes but the winged staff was missing and replaced with a scale that would usually be seen in the palm of Madam Justice with a stand. 

“I don’t know anything sir, but thank you, thank you so much for saving me!” the woman made her way off and Jóżef ensured that she was not being tracked down by any more mask-wearing men.  

Jóżef went back into his workshop staring at the complete product, his recreated suit with extra layers of vibranium to prevent injuries, the maniac from the latter end of this week had coated the spikes and pincers of his claws in vibranium, enough vibranium to almost puncture through Jóżef’s chest in fact. Neither Peter or Jóżef wanted to risk something like that once more, and Jóżef assured Peter that he would make his suit with extra protection this time around, especially after. . . the torture. 

Sure, his super healing meant his bruises were essentially healed after a good night's rest. But the  _joy_ that man had while he tortured Jóżef. Not many things scared the Polish American, but Octavius left him with nightmares. Jóżef had Peter, and of course, he knew his boyfriend would help him with recovering from the trauma, but Jóżef would likely never be able to face Octavius alone again.  

Speak of the devil, and he appears. Jóżef’s phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. A small smile spread across his face as he answered the phone, “Hey, babe.” Jóżef’s day always got brighter whenever he was around Peter, that man knew how to make the sinking ship of Jóżef’s spirit carry on till it reached an island where the sailor’s of his heart could make repairs and erase the damage as much as possible. 

“Hey, are you still at the lab? I’m at the intersection so tell me which way I’m going.” Peter’s voice was like honey, like the smoothest of silks. For a moment Jóżef was lost in the realm of appreciation for Peter’s harmonics. “Baby?” 

“Oh, yeah I’m at the lab. Still working a bit on the suit and making sure things are fine. We’ve got a bit of trouble though, so I’ll have something important to tell you by the time you get here. Okay?” 

“You're not hurt right?!” 

“No, no. I’m fine Piotruś, just get here please, I love you.” 

“Love you too. I'll be there in a sec!” At the end of the phone call, there was a click, making Jóżef put his phone away. 

Jóżef approached the creation made for him based on his blueprints. He was always impressed with how J.A.R.V.I.S. could replicate Jóżef’s own handy work. “Good job, Jarv.” Jóżef praised, touching the nanotech-vibranium armour of the suit. It felt like something that even power man’s strength could not break through, metaphorically of course. The armour  _felt_  and looked a lot like the typical skin-tight material of a hero costume, meaning no one suspected he was wearing armour.  

J.A.R.V.I.S. did not miss a single detail: the knee pads, the weight and protectors on the calf-length combat boots; the mechanized quiver placed at his left side  _with_  every detail of that quiver finely tuned, the mechanized release tool for his bow, and the holster for said bow on his back; the two straps on his right thigh which were what bound his pistol to his right thigh, the belt on the holster which connected to the utility belt around his waist which had multiple pouches for a variety of things; the holster for his nanotech formed rifle on his back, the facial mask which covered everything from his nose down, the leather arm guards strapped to his forearms, the three-fingered archery gloves, which were underneath another glove and covered his hands, were fingerless and had padded knuckling for close quarter’s combat. “You are  _amazing_.” Jóżef insisted, taking the suit and allowing it to form into the dog tags his father use to wear, which were mostly lost now thanks to Octavius.  

After putting the dog tags on he heard the faintest knock at the door, he knew it was only a courtesy because not a second after the door was opened and Peter was calling out the archer’s name. “Come to the workshop.” Jóżef called out, and sure enough, Peter came into the laboratory. “how’d that meeting with Stark go? 

“Yeah, good, good, good, good. He told me something  _fantastic_. But, what was that trouble you mentioned on the phone?” Peter questioned, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall of the secret workshop. 

Jóżef showed Peter the mask. “Something weird’s started happening, I don’t know who they are but they attacked a woman while wearing these. . . and the way they fought seemed to be faster than the eye and every time one of them moved his knife there was some sort of ‘aura,’ left over that would quickly fade away.”

 

 _Chapter II. The Orator and Her Minions_  

Peter reached out, taking a hold of the mask. He began looking it over with a sense of curiosity. “So, we got people with magic knives, creepy wooden masks, and they're bold enough to attack in broad daylight,” He ran his fingers along the marking inside. “The worst part is they've got to be getting those knives from somewhere if they're average people. Do you know what this symbol right here means?” 

Jóżef leaned back on the table in his workshop, looking at Peter with a sort of anxiousness in his eyes. “Well, the mask looks Norse in origin, and if they’re using the symbols that way then this could mean “Loki the snake cradling the scales justice.’” Jóżef walked over to Peter, taking a hold of one of the other man’s hand. “I’m more worried about the knives though, if they can block solid projectile weapons, I’ll have to use my bow, and you know how powerful the bow Strange gave me is.” 

“Loki, he’s so much trouble that I swear you could  _whisper_  that guy’s name and a dam would break.” Peter was not quite worried about having to fight with his hands, or of Jóżef having to use the more ‘magical,’ aspects of his bow which Strange had taught him to use, it just meant the bad guys would catch his hands with their faces. “Maybe, Thor knows something about it. . . speaking of Thor, Mister Stark wants you to come by the base, he remembers you!” 

“Oh, he does?” Jóżef asked, tilting his, absorbed by Peter's words. “Why does he want me to come?” 

“Well, you know how I’m good with persuasion!” Peter had a small grin on his face, clearly, proud of himself for convincing Tony Stark to find a new archer in the shape of his partner. 

Jóżef had stopped feeling positively to Tony Stark when he got his powers in Two-Thousand Fifteen due to a chameleon bite. He blamed Tony for it but he could not maintain his distaste for long with Peter around, it would be bad for his health. “Alright, I’ll meet him, when does he want me in?” 

Parker was considerably happy of his dual achievement: not only had he convinced Stark to take Jóżef in, but, he had also convinced Jóżef to meet with Tony. This day only got better and better when it came to personal achievement. “This Monday. Is that okay?” 

Jóżef gave a nod of approval, “Yeah, Monday is fine,” There was a lot happening from the start of the week. On tomorrow he would have to meet Peter's Aunt, the next day he would have to meet Tony Stark, and two days after that, Peter would have to meet Jóżef’s parents. “You should go online and look for any reports of people wearing masks, go on the ‘Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man,’ Twitter page too, let's see what we can find from there. I’m going out to inspect the alley for clues.” 

“You got it, boss. Get to it.” Peter took out his phone, going through his Twitter accounts, while Jóżef went outside to investigate the alleyway. As Peter combed through the endless posts tagged with “mask,” and any other words he could think of relating to masks. Eventually, he made a post on their public page about it, writing that anyone who sees someone in a mask like the ones in the photo that they should contact the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man page, the police, and stay clear of said person. He got two replies back and headed outside to tell Jóżef about them, watching as the man checked the ground for shoe prints of any specific make and possible fingerprints. 

“Pete, come here I think I’ve got something!” Jóżef called out, pulling on a single glove as he began examining his evidence. “I’ve got a partial handprint from when they guy fell but it’s covered in some kind of. . . oil, or something like it. But I can’t find any oils that match it except for this sort of oil that's been on Thor's hands before. It’s sort of like sweat but it’s also not. If you get what I mean.” 

“Yeah, so I’ve got two sightings reported on our page, one is in Astoria and the other's near Cadman Park. Let’s get going.” Peter leaned over slightly, his vibranium and nanotechnology suit, which was brand new and used in the fight against Octavius, already forming on his body. 

The suit was black with the same colour scheme of Jóżef’s suit, the secondary colours being red and a shade of gold. It had unique striped patterns on it; coupled with a red spider logo that was entirely endless and connected at the underarm on the first set of four legs and went downward at the second set of legs, with a red stripe on the chest that went to Peter's lower abdomen and a gold stripe on his back that went to the small of his back. The gloves were black with red fingers, and web patterns on the palms; the heels and toes of his shoes were red; the pants were black with red and gold patterning. 

Jóżef got onto Peter's back as he usually would and soon enough, they were swinging from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Jóżef covered his face as Peter swung low, just over the water in order to place a hand in the Narrows and spray Jóżef with water. 

“Really Pete?” Jóżef husked out, soon speaking once more after wiping his face clean. “Could you check and see if anything's come up?” 

Texting while swinging, a dangerous act, but Peter did it. He took out his phone and one of the lenses narrowed to show he was partially interested in what he saw. “Things have gotten big, there were other sightings of them all over Brooklyn! I think we should check out the park first.” More than fifteen people had sent messages to the Spider-Man account, most of them talking about how two people were pulled off into a black van. 

“Swing us over then!” Jóżef encouraged, hanging on tight as Peter swung them both towards the park and listened intently as Peter spoke. 

“There was an explosion at the park and two suspects in masks were seen driving away in the same direction as the van! This is bad, this is really bad!” 

As they arrived at Cadman Peter set Jóżef on the ground, landing next to the archer as he let go of his web.  

A few trees were cast ablaze and a few people were on the ground being attended to by first responders. The explosion had not been big, and no one died but lives were still put in danger. 

Jóżef chased after Peter as the web-slinger used his powers to swing to the trees set ablaze, questioning the survivors on if they could describe the car. While he did this, Karen was already going over the footage of the black van and car and tracking them with all other available footage from the crime scene. “Sir, what did you see?” 

The man was rubbing the back of his neck, one of his eyes squeezed shut tightly. “I think I saw a black van without any markings. . . yeah, and a black car going after it when the bomb went off. . .” 

“Sir, could I get your words for the paper?” Came the assertive voice of a man, Peter turned around and bared witness to a man of medium height with black hair, a set of green eyes, and a small smirk. “And Spider-man, what do you have to say about this situation? Is it possible you can see it?” 

That last sentence caused something to snap in Peter, not snap enough to attack the man but snap enough to raise his voice. “How are you gonna accuse me of something, I literally just got here! Who are you anyway bozo?” 

The man never let his smile falter and he extended a hand for Peter to shake. “Sam Evans, I write for the  _Daily Bugle_. NYC's finest daily newspaper.” 

“‘Finest,’ Whatever helps you sleep at night pale. Try to get something at an honest paper.” Peter scolded before he heard Karen's voice in his ear telling him that she had tracked down the location of the van before the van ‘disappeared,’ along with the car. Peter left Evans there, he was not worth the effort. Peter swung over to Jóżef and grabbed him quickly, catching his boyfriend in shock. “Karen told me where they went. We're going over there now, just so you know.” 

Jóżef held onto Peter tightly before moving to be on his boyfriend’s back to make sure his vision was not obstructed. “What happened back there, what did that guy say to you that’s got you in such a bad mood?” 

“He blamed me for the bombs going off. Just another day for your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, happy citizens and headline-seeking reporters.” They were on the path of the masked perpetrators, the path there was headed directly into one of the richer areas of Brooklyn, where four-story homes were owned by one person and  _were not_  apartment complexes. Peter swung to the top of the building, placing them both onto it. “Alright, let’s use the spider-bot and do a quick rundown of the building, try and analyse it for anything suspicious.” 

With that the spider-bot got off of Parker's chest and flew around the building, examining the entirety of the building for anything of interest. Things of note included a total occupancy of twenty-eight people, with occupants dispersed by floor, the floor at the very top was empty, the third-floor had two people in it, the second had five people, the first had seven people, and there were readings coming from below the first floor that indicated fourteen people were active there. Peter mentioned these things to Jóżef. 

Jóżef looked at Peter and said softly over their now shared communication system. “Let’s go in through the third-floor window since the guys have their backs turned to it. Follow my lead once we're inside.” 

When Peter gave Jóżef a nod without replying he began crawling down to the window. Peter’s fingers careful grabbed a hold of the window sill using one hand while the other hand, by acting as a conduit for Peter's powers, allowed his hands to be firmly placed on the window and slide it upwards with ease. Peter crawled in, making his way to the ceiling without being detected. Jóżef followed in after him and looked at the two men who had not detected them yet. 

Jóżef looked to Peter and held up five fingers, beginning a silent countdown. Four. . . Three. . . Two. . . One. 

Peter shot two webs, both of them hit the feet of the man on the left, he pulled the man up and hung him from the ceiling, beginning to wrap him up in a coat of webbing with his nose exposed so he could breathe. After placing the man in a cocoon as if he were to become a butterfly he made sure the man would not fall from the ceiling. For now. Peter looked over to inspect Jóżef’s progress, watching his boyfriend do a simple takedown. 

Jóżef had placed his right forearm under the man's chin and held his own hand firmly with the other hand, making the man lose consciousness. Jóżef made sure he did not fall and nodded to Peter, gesturing his head to the wall, placing the man against it. Peter shot webs at the man until he was finally set against the wall with his mouth covered. Jóżef spoke softly. “Okay, remember to stay close and follow on my move, I’ll switch to our communication system so that none of them can hear us when we speak, make sure you do the same.” 

Jóżef took a position that made him less noticeable and his powers took effect, making him blend in with everything he walked past. Peter's new equipment was based on Jóżef’s powers and had a built-in cloaking mode which activated as a set of tiny retro-reflective panels with a layer of nanotech fabric which, like an actual chameleon and like Jóżef’s powers, could change the layering of itself to change how light reflected in case one of the panels went on the fritz.  

Jóżef headed down to the second floor, looking at the five men in the room. He whispered softly. “Let's test out your new and improved web grenades.” Jóżef could tell Peter was grinning based on how the lenses and eyeholes of his mask moved. Jóżef grinned back behind his mask and moved back properly behind the wall so Peter could get in front of him in the stairway. 

Peter stepped in front of Jóżef and activated one of the web grenades which came out of his web shooters as a sort of well wrapped small ball of webs with a device which was designed to send the webs flying in every direction. Since the actual exploding device was heavily encased with webbing, and like Stark’s web grenades made very little noise, to begin with, there was absolutely no noise heard.  

Jóżef and Peter came from behind the wall and Jóżef gave Peter a pat on the back. “Fantastic.” He marvelled at his boyfriend's handy work, all five of the men webbed either to the floor or to the wall. Peter went by, making sure their mouths were securely webbed, adding extra layers if he felt the need. After this was done, they made their way to the next set of stairs, heading to the first floor where they saw only six people. 

Jóżef looked at Peter. “I’ll take three you take the other three.” Jóżef made his way behind a desk which was near one of the guards. Jóżef made another countdown, this time from eight to make sure Peter was ready. 

Just like that a set of protective glasses formed around Jóżef’s head from the nanotechnology which his suit was made from. He pulled the man who was on the other side of the desk to his side, hitting him on the head with the butt of his pistol when he was on the ground. Jóżef’s pistol had an integral suppressor which he used to fire a thinly layered ball round which was full of pepper spray and tear gas, similar to an S1. Jóżef took down another one of the distracted guards while Peter took the fourth guard from him. Peter had shot a splitter web and gotten his three targets down and simply webbed the other man to the wall, covering his mouth entirely like the others. Jóżef, feeling partially slighted by his partner taking that takedown, headed down the next set of stairs. 

Peter stood up and walked carefully as he webbed the two men Jóżef had taken down to the ground, covering their mouths to make sure they could not speak. Every masked guard, which was every guard in the building, had their masks webbed entirely to their face by the mouth, wrapped from the mouth and three times around the head, then put into a neat cocoon of course. 

Peter looked over to the stairway and watched as his partner dragged up a man who was unconscious very carefully and set him against the wall. Peter began shooting webs at the man till he was neatly wrapped in solid web fluid and would not be able to flee once he woke up. “They look so snuggly wrapped up like that.” Peter joked, proud of himself when he saw the slightest indication of a smile on the side of Jóżef’s face. 

As they came to the bottom of the next stairwell they were greeted with the sight of a medium-sized statue, it was larger than a normal person but not something so large that it was grand. It was of a woman holding a snake in one hand a set of scales in the other. The remaining members of the masked foes were here, praying to the statue while a woman on top of the platform near the statue was chanting in an ancient language. 

Jóżef’s and Peter's eyes were immediately drawn to the bound and gagged woman in the corner, but while there were two kidnappings there was only one prisoner, making both of them feel worried about if they were too late.  

The woman was, eventually, speaking in English. "Followers of Loki, rejoice in the name of his wife!” 

"Hail Loki and Sigyn!" 

"Rejoice in the name of our Goddess Sigyn. Her and all of her divine providence, may she arrive and rule this earth with her family! And may we be ever grateful to be in her presence!" 

"Hail!" 

"Goddess Sigyn, we bring to you one of the unclean men from this world, one who rejects your values. Bring forth the offerings so that Sigyn may press us!" 

And with that a woman in a mask and a black and green cloak like the others on this floor came out from the furthest end of the room, pushing the man forward. His chest was bared to the world and he was looking at the beaten woman in the corner with fear in his eyes. 

"We've got to save him I'll go for the woman up there and you get the hostage." There would be no time for a well-planned strategy, improvisation was required for now, unfortunately.  

Jóżef took out a roped arrow and shot it to one end of the room without being detected, he tied it to another point, making sure it was elevated properly, making a zipping rope. 

As the man was placed on the altar and the woman who was speaking pulled out a ceremonial dagger, she spoke. "In the name of the father, of the daughter, and of the Holy Mother. Praise them." 

"Now!" Jóżef sprang into action, zip lining down. By the time he made it to the hostage on the altar a great deal of attention had been drawn to him, enough to cause a distraction so Peter could rescue the captured woman. Jóżef kicked the woman, who had placed the man on the altar, off the platform where he was. Then he turned his attention to the leader only to be cut in the cheek by a karambit. He growled at her and began fighting with her. 

To Peter, as with anyone else, the people who were involved were just as guilty as the woman holding the knife. As many of them attempted to flee Peter webbed many of them to the ground. He grabbed a hold of the beaten woman and made his way up the stairs, setting her in a chair. He glared at one of the women who was fleeing tried to get past him, he pushed her to the wall and shot a large web, trapping her easily. “None of you are leaving this building without being in a pair of handcuffs!” Peter came back downstairs and webbed the other ones who were fleeing to the handrails of the stairway. “Karen. Call the police and an ambulance for the woman in the chair.”  

Once Karen assured Peter she was doing just that he zipped his way over to the man who was on the altar, taking him and placing him in the chair next to the woman. “I’ve got questions for you after this buddy, don’t go anywhere.” As Peter came back he engaged four of the remaining guards who had seaxes. 

The guards were constantly trying to kill Peter but thanks to the web-slinger spider sense he was able to dodge each attempt at his life, grabbing the seas with his web and hitting one of his attackers in the head with it. 

By the end of it, Jóżef had stabbed the Priestess with her own karambit and Peter made sure her wounds were not fatal. He wrapped up nine of the mask-wearing people and make a sure they were in a large cluster that the police could easily get to. 

Jóżef came over and removed his mask, lifting the bottom of Peter's mask. “You fought great, baby!” Jóżef leaned down and pressed his lips to Peter's. Jóżef knew how important physical constant was to his boyfriend, it helped Peter settle back into reality and not worry about whether Jóżef was still alive. 

“So did you but next time, wear a mask that covers your whole face, I can’t have knives cutting up that pretty face of yours, I need it!” Peter gave Jóżef a kiss to the lips in reply, it was full of gentleness and longing. 

“We’ve got her down and we’ve got our witnesses, but I’m worried other Cults like this may exist. We should talk with the victims.” 

“You read my mind,” Peter replied, grabbing Jóżef’s hand and leading him upstairs when both of their masks were back on.

 

 _Chapter III. Miss Double_ _, the_ _Tabloid_ _, and_ _spi_ _neless writing_  

As the two heroes made their way back up the stairs to the first floor, Peter began pondering over what questions he would ask the man who had recently been freed. He needed to find any possible leads that would take them to another cult location. If they were in Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, there was no way that this hidden place of worship in Brooklyn was the only base. 

“Are you two okay?” Peter asked, he knew the answer already after the ordeal they had gone through, but it was politer to ask them. He ignored the look of contempt the man gave him and spike once more “I need to talk with you about everything you heard in there. Did you get names, locations, anything?” 

The man looked into the lenses of Peter's mask, his eyes slightly watering from the flood of pain caused by those masked men. “I don’t remember much, I remember that a few of them talked about publishin’ articles in the Daily Bugle, I think they mentioned that they worked there or somethin’. One of them had the voice of a man, the other was a woman. That's all I remember.” The man cradled the women who was hugging tightly to him, caressing her gently. 

Peter nodded, telling them to hold on till the police arrived and to tell them everything they could both remember afterwards. “hopefully we can stop this little Cult before it gets out of hand.” 

“Thanks for savin’ me and my wife, Spidey. We might have died and our family back home wouldn’t have found out about it.” 

“It’s what we do,” Peter said, gesturing to Jóżef, frankly, he likely would not have been able to accomplish this without a partner at his side. Between two hostages being in imminent danger, if he had given special attention to one the other might have died. “Where are you two from?” 

“Los Angeles,” The man said calmly, leaning on his wife as he held her, seeming extremely exhausted. 

“You two get back safe,” Peter ordered, jokingly of course. They did not need much of an incentive to make sure they were safe after that ordeal. Peter took Jóżef’s arm and took him out of the building just before the cops arrived. “Daily Bugle here we come,” Peter said fiercely, shooting a web onto a nearby building and beginning to swing himself along the skies of New York City. 

“Do you think it’s Triple-J?” Jóżef asked, holding onto his boyfriend's back as they got closer to the building. Getting from one end of New York City to another wasn’t difficult in the slightest for a web-slinger, and since Peter had been near the edge of Manhattan they were soon on the roof of The Daily Bugle. 

“J. Jonah Jameson, a cult member. Now that’s a story we should run.” Peter joked. “As much as I want the guy out of our life, I don’t think he’s a cultist. I think he’s just blind and accidentally hired a cultist.” Jameson was always out to make Spider-Man and any hero associated with him look as horrible as possible, Jóżef had a few horrible pieces even comparing him to a brutal police officer since he used non-lethal rounds. That story, like most stories the Daily Bugle produced about superheroes, did not stand up to scrutiny. 

“You're right. But I hope he's actually a cultist so we can send him to jail for a long while.” Jóżef loved freedom of the press, but when that press was constantly sensationalist and outright libellous he developed, as most people would, a hatred for that specific press company and did everything in his power to expose their lies. 

“Let’s get out of our suits so Jameson can’t run a headline calling Spider-Man and Red Umbra ‘vandals,’ and ‘trespassers,’ plus we might just get kicked out instead of having the police called on us,” Jóżef said, his suit returning to his dog tags, stuffing said dog tags into his shirt to hide them. 

“You're on to something, Babe. Let’s get this B and E over with.” Peter’s suit became a nice watch which he wore, under the watch, there was a web shooter built-in as a part of the design. “Let’s try and find out which writers it is. You went on the Bugle’s website, right?” 

“Yeah, I did it while you were swinging around the city. I’ve found five suspicious people who all have superheroes and think crime is ‘out of control,’ in NYC even though crime rates have been going down.” Jóżef furthered his reasoning for singling out these five people. “If this Cult really thinks Loki is the saviour of humanity they'll constantly talk about order and chaos.” 

“Solid reasoning, you got names?” Peter asked as he held the door open for Jóżef and watched his boyfriend out on a small earpiece so they could whisper and still be heard while they snuck around. 

Jóżef spoke as he walked through the door. “Sarah Kenneth, Jennifer Johnson, Ben O’Malley, Samuel Evans, and Chris Baiocchi.” He got into a crouching position and began quietly making his way through the Bugle. 

One of those names, in particular, stood out to Peter.  _Samuel Evans, Daily Bugle_.  **Son of a-**  He was pulled from his thoughts as Jóżef told him to hurry inside, which he quickly did of course. Parker would make sure to check out Sam Evans personally.  

So, the two made their way through the Daily Bugle, Jóżef using his powers once in a while; while Peter shot webs at the cameras from hidden angles and crawled on the wall to avoid prying eyes whenever he needed. Peter eventually, lowered himself to Evans' desk when no one was paying attention and made his quick retreat to the ceiling, making sure no one would realise Evans' desk was tampered with. 

Jóżef had managed to get his hands on possible information that could indicate the involvement of other people in the Cult but only one possible lead came back, and it was a note in Sarah Kenneth’s desk that gave it away. 

 _We meet at the temple tonight,_ _d_ _aughter of Loki,_ _we expect you to deliver a speech with your Sister's recent incident. May the King of trickery bring you_ _to peace_ _through your_ _skilled_ _hand_ _with his wisdom._ _-_ _O._  

There were paper drafts of speeches addressed to people such as “M. K.,” “O.,” and other people who were clearly associated with the Cult and were required to give speeches. As Jóżef made it to a safe place once more he went through the most recent reports about the arrested Cult members, finding out the leader who he fought against to be named. . . Martha Kenneth. Jóżef had found another note as well, addressed from “M. K.,” to “O.” 

 _My Mother O., I have reports that those two_ _, '_ _hero,’ animals are attempting to find our temple in my basement. If I am captured, please do not report on it excessively, you will give away your involvement with our faith, and that could spell disaster. Keep an eye on my sister. -M. K._  

Jóżef could gather two things from this, one of these things that Peter had already discovered through his searching of Sam Evans' desk. Whoever these cult members were, they had a highly organized system and clearly, there was someone above them referred to as “Mother;” second. Jóżef had gathered that M. K. Must refer to Martha Kenneth, he decided to search for Sarah Kenneth and found that she was the sister of Martha, her twin sister to be specific. 

Jóżef made his way out of the Bugle and waited for Peter to emerge from the hell hole of lies. And as Peter did Jóżef listened to the information he had gathered. “So apparently their leader is someone in the Media. If the use of ‘E.,’ means Evans, then I’m guessing the ‘O.,’ is someone in media with a last name that begins with ‘O.’” 

“Yeah, from the notes I read she seems to be in a news outline that does television reporting. So, she probably works for a local news station.” 

“So, we know she works at a local news place, her last name begins with O, and I also checked out Johnson's table. I’m pretty sure ‘Ms. Investigative Journalist’ is involved with the bombs that went off. Listen to this note I found:  _You did excellent, daughter J. That piece in the bombing you made will put both of our outlets further on the map, and will make me an even more famous newscaster after my most recent rise to power, having M. K. set it up was a fantastic idea._ Signed  _O._ ” 

“Three guilty parties, four if you count every woman who reported on those bombings, all red handed. But we need more evidence. . . Didn't one of them mention that they'd be meeting at a temple, but their last ‘temple,’ was just a basement. Do you think they might be meeting at those colonial tunnels under Gravesend? I hear there’s still a lot undiscovered about them.” 

“There are other tunnels in Brooklyn, do you think we should split up?” Peter asked, folding his arms. He hated suggesting the old Scooby-Doo method but there was too much land to cover tonight. 

“No, if we split up we might possibly put civilians in danger who've been kidnapped. Take us back to the workshop, I was working on something for your suit, specifically your little spider drone friend, it should help us.” 

“Tell me about it on the way.” Peter grabbed a hold of Jóżef and got them both in the air once more. They would have enough time to get to the workshop then get back. “So. . . what’s this thing you’ve been working on?” 

Jóżef held onto Peter, making sure he was secure before he began speaking. “Oh, that spider drone on your chest. When I was making your new suit I made sure Karen was in there so you could keep that drone especially, it’s a beyond vital tool for recon. But then I started thinking, ‘why stop at reconnaissance?’ and I realized there was no reason at all to stop at recon. When I realised that I started working on a whole pack of portable spider drones. It’s a little risky, and we’d basically be putting ten flying tasers in Karen’s hands, and the tech I’m working with needs a lot of improvement but we need a few extra hands. Remember how there were  _exactly_ twenty-six combatants? Well, I’m thinking that for each ‘temple,’ there’s a high priest, and twenty-five worshippers under them. That note seemed to indicate there were multiple temples, and if each temple has twenty-six worshippers in total, that’s seventy-eight enemies we’ve got to deal with tonight!” 

“Solid reasoning. Here’s what we’ll do, you go back to the workshop and make sure those drones work well, while you do that I’ll search under every tunnel in Brooklyn and try to find as many ‘temples,’ as I can. Okay?” As Jóżef gave a word of agreement Peter swung him to the lab. “When you finish get on the ferry and I’ll tell you where the temple is, we can’t afford to lose these people after what’s happened, this ends tonight.” 

“I got it, I’ll work as quickly as I can then meet you there, should only be a few hours.” With that, Peter dropped Jóżef off at the workshop then began making his way back to Manhattan to travel towards Brooklyn. This time he took the ferry along with the bus once he arrived in Manhattan since his muscles needed a rest after so much web swinging and fighting. 

 

 _Hours later_ , Peter had been all over Brooklyn after his break, checking every tunnel he could find online or new about from his friends, or took a tour of when in Brooklyn. He had found a total of four ‘temples,’ including the one in the basement they had already found. He was sure these were the only ones in public spots of interest, and they were very well hidden. . . they were also very empty and had medium sized statues of either Loki or the woman they referred to as Sigyn. The very thought of these cultists meeting in these old tunnels, preying upon unsuspecting tourists like vampires to sacrifice them, had Peter’s blood set a boil. Peter had found evidence that a sacrifice had recently taken place by the stench of copper in the hidden room of each tunnel, and the still-warm blood on the altar. He had failed to save three people at least, and that brought him into a further enraged mood. Eventually, he had come across the place Jóżef mentioned, the colonial tunnels below the Gravesend cemetery, a local landmark like the others. 

“Karen, turn on night vision mode please,” Peter said as he entered the set of complex tunnels. 

“Sure, Peter,” Karen replied and the room was illuminated in Peter’s eyes. 

“Thanks, Karen,” Peter said softly as he began exploring, going deeper into the bowels of this beast of a tunnel. Peter ran a hand along the wall, looking for any secret chambers. As he made it to a crossroads, he had Karen record every path change he made. Up till then, it had been a straight path with nary a crack or crevasse in the wall. He made a right turn, the faint sound of either a mouse or a person beginning to perform its harmonics. 

Peter narrowed his eyes and walked lightly, barely making any noise, as he walked further the sound of synchronized praying in an ancient tongue made itself audible, a set of torches burning in the distance. Peter shot a web onto the ceiling of the tunnel, crawling towards the torches. He found himself above an oblivious mask-wearing guard who had a seax on her left hip, a black and green cloak on, and a torch in her right hand. Peter lowered himself by a web and pulled the guard onto the ceiling, wrapping a web around her mouth before he webbed her to the ceiling.  

“Karen, text Joey that we’ve found the place, and give him directions to our location,” Peter whispered calmly so that he could not be heard, making his way through the tunnels. “Oh, there’s a tracker in the suit, sweet.” 

Eventually, Peter got a text back in the form of a pop-up message on his right eye lens, though the Head-Up Display, like every other H.U.D., and in fact like the human eye, appeared as a single source of vision. Jóżef’s reply was quick to the point, like he often was, saying.  _I’ll be there soon, tracking your location now, be safe and stay hidden._  

Peter smiled behind his mask, every time Jóżef texted he was so formal about it.  _Love you_ , Peter replied. 

 _Love you too, cutie_ _💖😍_ _._ Jóżef sent back. 

Peter took Jóżef’s words to heart, he stayed safe and he stayed hidden, he walked past the entrance to the main temple twice, hearing the chanting of Old Norse multiple times as a deep reverberation. Peter figured that Jóżef was right about the high guard count, he had pinned nine people to the ceiling in the tunnels alone, and the heavy chanting sounded like the hymn of a large church. 

Eventually, Peter felt a set of arms wrap around him, one covering his mouth, making Peter fall into a form of existential panic. “Zrelaksuj się, Pajączku. To tylko ja,” Jóżef’s voice came, gentle and deep as it always was whenever he spoke in his native tongue, eventually, calming his partner. “What did you find.” 

“ _First of all_ : don’t scare me like that again, I could’ve hurt you!” Peter whispered, sighing faintly afterwards. He lifted Jóżef’s chin when the man tried to avoid his gaze by looking at his own feet. “Listen, I’m not mad at you. The adrenaline is just pumping I’ve been anxious to finally get this over with, okay my silly miś?” Peter wrapped his arms around Jóżef’s neck, having to stand slightly on the tips of his toes to give Jóżef a kiss to the lips, assuring the other man of his care. 

“Tak, moje serce.” Jóżef replied speedily. 

“I found the main temple. Or at least what looks like the main temple. It’s got a statue bigger than every other one we've seen and far more followers. Look up and you'll see my. . . Handiwork.” 

“Great, we can take all of them down in one go,” Jóżef whispered back, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a small box which was six inches in length, three and a half in width, and three and a half in height. three and a half in width, and three and a half in height. The box had no covering on it and the contents inside were completely visible. It was a five by five row of black metals, carefully holstered to their spots in the box. “Here are your drones. Karen’s already synced up with them, so just give her the word when we're about to engage and  ** _bang_**. Down go the cultists thanks to projectile electric weapons.” 

“That's awesome, how'd you come up with this?” Peter asked, attaching the small box of drones to a spot on his waist. Clearly, Jóżef intended to add things to the suit, since the hidden utility belt had more spots on it other than several places for web fluid cartridges. 

“Well, I was going over less lethal weaponry while J.A.R.V.I.S. and I designed your suit before the whole. . . kidnapping thing with Octavius. And I came across something that uses these but to a larger level as shotgun rounds. These are stronger though.” Jóżef smirked. “ready to stop some cultists?” 

“You know I am, and after that, we rest.”  

Peter led Jóżef to the main temple entrance, the hymning beyond intense as they entered, a stairway going downward visible.  

“One guard up ahead, you take him,” Jóżef said calmly, watching as Peter crawled onto a nearby wall, then to the ceiling. Peter shot a web at each heel, bring the man up and covering his mouth with webbing before sticking him to the ceiling. Peter came back down and followed Jóżef deeper into the tunnels, eventually, they came across a massive expanse of space. 

There was a massive statue of Loki holding his fist to the air in anger. There were more than sixty people praying while three of them were standing at the podium on the platform.  

Peter looked at Jóżef, already knowing what their plan of action will be. “I’ll go up top, you fight the ones on the bottom and I’ll release the drones once chaos ensures, turn on night vision mode once I shoot the candles.” 

“Clever, clever.” Jóżef chuckled out, crouching and making his suit, along with his body change colour to properly reflect the background.” Jóżef took out his bow, grabbing one of the knock out arrows, hoping they would not be fast enough to cut it down. 

Peter made a multiple layered net at the door with his webbing, effectively blocking the only entrance to the temple. They may have been “super,” quick with their knives but the tensile strength of his webs could only be destroyed by someone with a form of super strength, or after it dissolved within two hours. They would not need two hours to take out a set of Cultists. 

As Peter made his way above the podium, barely hidden from the light, the woman began to speak, so Peter gave Karen an order: “Karen record this and make no mention of Red Umbra or my identity in the recording.” Peter figured he would get more evidence of this Cult's existence and their crimes for the Police. 

“Brothers, Sisters, Children of Loki. Regrettably,  _O_., Will not be joining us due to the danger that’s been presented to our faith by a certain New York City vandalist.” She paused, listening to the boos the crowd gave due to Peter’s meddling. “Rest assured, my family, me and my colleagues at the Bugle, Brother  _Sam E.,_ Sister  _Jenn J.,_  and myself Sister  _K._ are doing everything in our power to rid our faith of this scrimmage. Including working with our actor friend, Brother  _M._ , to put Spider-Man into a ball of shame, But tonight, we shall partake in a feast and sacrifice in praise to the one saviour of humanity, Loki!” The woman listened to the applause that reverberated throughout the tunnels, echoing through the room. “Praise be to our Father, to his Daughter, and to the Holy Mother! May they rule the earth for all of eternity!” As the woman stepped back they brought out two women who were to be sacrificed at the altar of Loki, the three people who were in charge had knives out and were ready to kill their sacrifice. 

Peter shot four webs, one after the other and holding two in each hand after, then used his strength to pull the four cultists onto the ceiling, where he then proceeded to web them in place. Once this occurred there was a flurry of screaming, people falling down as Jóżef shot them with knock out arrows. Peter released the drones and Karen's spider drone which was on his chest, watching as electric blasts were fired at the cultists, sending many of them falling to the ground. 

Peter joined the action, finding himself on the ground from a sudden electrical shot of a cultist's making. “Imagine this headline Spidey,  _Spiderman found dead in a tunnel,_ what a great way to get rid of a pest.” The woman, obviously the investigative journalist named Jennifer Johnson, pulled out a throwing knife. She was holding it backwards, ready to kill Peter. 

“Get your hands off him, spierdon!” Jóżef ran to her, tackling her. Jóżef was in some kind of blind rage over seeing Peter in danger, he had knocked her out personally before he joined the spider drones in combat once more with his partner. 

After a long battle, the members were hung up as a set of cocoons tied together. “Karen said someone called the police about a noise, let’s go drop an anonymous tip on this ‘temple,’ and drop this video off. Then we can go home for the day.” 

“Never thought I could agree with you more than I already had, and that's a firm ninety-nine per cent.” Jóżef chuckled, following Peter out of the tunnels, his eyelids finally getting heavy from exhaustion. “We're taking the ferry. . . I’m so. . .” He yawned, “Sleepy.” 

“Couldn’t agree more.” Peter picked up Jóżef, smiling at how light his boyfriend felt despite his figure. It was mostly due to Peter's power, making it look as if a small, barely muscular, tinier man called Spider-Man was carrying someone so much larger than him. 

Peter swung his tired boyfriend through the city, sliding a flash drive into the sixty-first precinct. The flash drive had a note on it saying  ** _Cultists at the Gravesend cemetery, take them in_** ** _. -Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man._**  

Peter left the precinct, going back onto the roof and grabbing his boyfriend again, swinging him to the Whitehall Terminal.  

Peter took Jóżef to a bathroom so they could deactivate their suits. Peter was impressed by Jóżef’s attention to detail, his suit, when compressed, was essentially a watch on his left wrist with a web shooter underneath, the web shooter was of course small enough to be hidden. The box of drones had compressed down into a black leather bracelet on Peter's right wrist, long enough to conceal the web shooter as the watch had. 

“You really did think of everything,” Peter said with a soft chuckle, soon his partner to the seats at the terminal. 

“I try,” Jóżef responded as they walked, leaning on Peter's shoulder. 

Soon, Peter set his drowsy partner in one of the terminal seats. “There we go, big fella, we’ve got a half hour before our trip, try to rest you've earned it.” They had just missed the 8:30 trip by a minute and Peter could not believe how long they had been up and had been working. Jóżef had made them breakfast at six in the morning and they had been working past eight in the night. The job of a hero was never a walk in the park for them. 

Once they were on the ferry Jóżef took a nap of Peter's shoulder for the duration of the trip while Peter was on his phone, scrolling through his social media feed which was full of people suspected that ‘unknown man who was on Spidey’s back in his underwear.’ To be Spider-Man's crime-fighting partner, Red Umbra. Once in a while he would look up and marvel at the city lights in the distance as they approached their other living space in Staten Island which was in the secret room of the Workshop. After a day like this Peter wanted to be as secluded from the noise of NYC as possible, he knew Jóżef needed it as well. 

Peter began texting his Aunt.  _Hey_ _aunt_ _May_   

Then a reply.  _Hey Pete_ _r_ _, what’s up?_  

Peter yawned faintly, covering his mouth briefly.  _Me and that guy in the pic_ _are gonna be at your_ _place by_ _noon_ _sound good?_  

 _Tired?_ May asked. 

Peter wrote back.  _Very, did you see what I did on the news?_  

After a few minutes, most likely due to Peter spacing out, May replied.  _I did, I’m very proud of you! Go get some sleep, Peter._ _Love you!_  

Peter smiled at his phone.  _Love you too bye._ Peter put his phone away and allowed Jóżef to lean on him, still staring out the window. He was beyond ready for the day to finally end so he and Jóżef could have a nice morning together, eat breakfast at a diner, then go see his aunt May.  

Peter stood up when the ferry finally arrived at the port and he woke Jóżef up. “come on, sleepy head. Time to get home.” Peter kissed Jóżef on the top of the head and led his groggy boyfriend through the Saint George Ferry Terminal. Peter had already called a cab to pick them up, placing Jóżef inside. 

Their driver was quiet for most of the trip, clearly, as tired as both of them were. Peter gave the man a tip once they arrived at the workshop, times are tough for taxi drivers. 

Peter picked Jóżef up as if he were a bride and went into the workshop, pressing the hidden button with his foot, watching as the door to their secret bedroom opened. 

Peter carefully placed his boyfriend in the bed, Jóżef already had his eyes closed from exhaustion. Peter pulled Jóżef’s clothes, save for his red boxer briefs off, then he got out of his own clothes and joined his lover in the full-size bed, hugging him tightly as he closed his eyes. 

“We did well,” Jóżef said suddenly, speaking as if he were about to slip into sleep just like Peter.  

“Yeah, we did,” Peter replied. Drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

 

 _Chapter IV. Parker’s_ _Iliad_  

The two men had woken up later, much later than they intended in fact. It was nine in the morning. This was less time that Peter had desired and the things on his social media, like most things, could easily turn poisonous. Some headline had called Spider-Man a number of homophobic obscenities and done the same to Red Umbra. 

Peter set his phone down and headed to the closet, pulling out a set of clothes for both him and his partner. He knew there were still at the very least two Cult members out there, possibly wreaking havoc on the City, but today he had an appointment to uphold, Jóżef was finally going to meet his Aunt May. 

They had been together for two years and Peter had wanted to keep their relationship unknown to virtually everyone. The only two who actually  _knew_  anything were Ned and MJ, who already knew about Peter's superpowers. 

“Come on, Jó, we gotta get up,” Peter said through a yawn, laying out their clothes for the day before he went to take a shower as Jóżef sat up. 

When Peter was midway through his shower he was accompanied by his lover, he gave him gentle kisses to the back of the head and washed his back for him. The little things like sharing a shower with Jóżef really made Peter's day, and Peter was glad that Jóżef knew how to emphasize the small things. “You're the best.” 

 

 _At noon_ , Peter and Jóżef were headed to aunt May's apartment. The two were standing in the elevator, as each floor passed by them the hold each of them put to the other’s hand became greater. That light green “rash,” was beginning to form on Jóżef’s face, no doubt his entire body would have become light green had it not been for Peter. 

“You’re gonna do fine,” Peter assured, squeezing Jóżef’s hand just that bit tighter to comfort him. “I'll always be here.” Peter leaned on the taller man's shoulder, smiling just a little at him. 

As the elevator stopped and the two doors opened Jóżef hurriedly made his way out, the light green “rash,” finally leaving, his skin looking normal once more. He had to get over his nervousness, aunt May would love him! This is what he kept telling himself. 

Peter knocked on the door. The smell of delivered breakfast foods flooding the cracks of the door. Peter still felt bad about waking up late and causing neither of them to have time to eat breakfast, he had texted his aunt and asked her to get all of them food, and he had cash in hand to pay her back for their morning meal, or their lunch since it was noon after all. They had not eaten dinner either that previous night. 

As May opened the door she immediately embraced her nephew. “Peter come in, come in!” And with that Peter was pulled into the apartment, Jóżef following in hesitantly. 

Peter sat down on the couch with his aunt along with his boyfriend, smiling between the two of them. “So, May: This is Jóżef, he’s my boyfriend and that guy everyone's tweeting about.” The anxiousness on Jóżef was only visible to Peter, who made jokes in the hope that they would settle down his boyfriend, who's “skin-condition,” was coming back inflamed. 

“Hey, so it’s pronounced ‘Yo-shef,’ right?” May asked, a genuine smile on her face as she extended a hand to shake Jóżef’s hand. 

“Y-yeah, nice to meet you.” Jóżef took a hold of May's hand, shaking it gently. “My mother added that ‘sh,’ sound because she wanted me to be ‘unique,’” Jóżef chuckled a bit, trying to create conversation and feel less awkward. 

“That's. . . interesting. So how did you two meet?” May asked as she sat back against the couch, the plates where on the coffee table along with the take-out food. 

Jóżef began speaking while Peter took a hold of one of the plates, beginning to make himself a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. “Uh, well, it’s kind of related to Peter’s powers. He needed help with his suit so he pretended to be Spider-Man's assistant, and told me ‘Spider-Man,’ needed his suit fixed and that they knew each other through Ned. . . Leeds, Leeds is their last name, right?” May nodded and kept listening when Jóżef was sure ‘Leeds,’ was Ned’s last name he continued speaking. “So, when I finish fixing the suit this guy attacks us, and we end up fighting him. After that, we worked together in the city and things just hit off from there.” 

May reached out for the fork she had set on the table, she had already made herself a plate of food but she needed a fork. She poked at her eggs before eating some of them and replying while covering her mouth. “Back in high school?” She asked. A nod from Jóżef was returned. “And you are how old right now?” 

“T-twenty-one ma'am.” Jóżef stuttered out, moving the messy brown hair out of his face to get a clear view of May. She was. . . smiling. 

“So, what do you and Peter do? Any mutual hobbies, other than the crime-fighting duo gimmick?” May eventually, uncovered her mouth, staring into Jóżef’s brown eyes. 

“We both usually work on tech or something related to Peter going to college soon,” Jóżef said, his body starting to relax. “Other than that, we're usually just watching something together on the couch, especially since winter is coming soon.” 

“That sounds like a lot of fun! Like what me and Ben use to get into. Jóżef. . . Do you  _love_  my nephew?” He asked, ‘cutting the crap,’ so she could get to the point. 

Jóżef, without missing a beat, while his skin went pink, spoke: “With all of my heart. He means the world to me, I love him. More than anything.” Jóżef held Peter's hand, not noticing how Peter continued to eat his food. Peter was beyond starved. “He's an inspiration.” 

“Good answer.” May joked. “I just. . . want him to find someone who's good to him, y'know? And you seem like what he needs, a good balance for his life. I’m glad Peter found you when he moved out.” May chuckled as Peter tried to put a piece of pancake to Jóżef’s lips from a plate he had made for his boyfriend. 

“Joey, you’ve gotta eat,” Peter stressed, eventually, making Jóżef open his mouth and accept the offering put to him. “May, how are things with that guy you've been seeing?” Peter put the plate in Jóżef’s hands as he spoke with his aunt. 

“They’re going well, we went out dancing last night and had dinner, then he drove me back to the apartment.” Once Peter had moved out, to what she assumed was the Avengers Tower, rather than Jóżef’s apartment, May decided to try and  _move_  beyond Ben's death and not let it way her down. Peter, despite the death of his parents, had excelled; May decided to do that for herself. “Oh, Peter, did you see that awful Jameson's headline?” 

“Which one? They're all the whinings of an old man claiming that I’m destroying the city.” 

“Well, apparently the cops found this Cult or something and Jameson said your e the one in charge. The man's on something, I swear.” 

“Do you have it on you?” Peter asked. 

“Check their website,” May explained. 

Peter did exactly that, rolling his eyes at the libellous headline, the worst part about having a secret identity and a bozo with a newspaper who was determined to bring you down for an enemy was the simple fact that Peter could not press charges for these baseless lies. The comment section was even worse, a few choice comments included:  _Red Umbra is_ _having_ _his good name dragged through the mud_ _with this Spiderfool!_ _@_ _JJJ leave_ _the Shadow out of this the only enemy is Spiderman!_ _!!!_ Another one was prettier, stating:  _I'm an actor and I’ve seen some shitty acts in my_ _life but Spider-loser's is without a doubt the_ _s_ _uckiest I’ve seen_ _. Talk about_ _a P_ _atroclus_ _complex, I bet that red umbra guy is_ _dating him too, they both suck!!!_  

Peter rolled his eyes. No doubt he would run into them one day and have to save their lives, two more New Yorkers corrupted by Jameson's lies with no mind of their own. And that sucking reference to the  _Iliad_  made Peter cringe as he read it. “May, can we just watch tv or something while we eat?” Peter asked, smiling at her as he put those foolish comments behind him and set his phone down. 

May covered her mouth, eating bacon. “Yeah, yeah.” She went back to eating, watching the news coverage. On the television was an up and coming newswoman, sitting in her reporting room with her colleague. Her name was Dianna Olsen, and she was interviewing a man who claimed to have seen something last night. 

“You're watching DNN- Live, New York's most popular eyewitness news network. We’re here with our correspondent, Carly Branson, who’s on the scene of a Spider-man ‘victory,’ with an interview from a witness.” 

Carly was standing there, a man standing by her. “Yes, Dianna, people are saying that this many, Mister John Mancovic, witnessed Spider-Man and his sidekick, the notorious Red Umbra, fleeing the scene.” She put the microphone to said Mister Mancovic. “Mister Mancovic, would you like to tell us what you saw?” 

Jóżef interrupted before both May and Peter told him to ‘shh,’ “Sidekick- 

“Yeah, so I was practising for the play I’m acting in tomorrow in my apartment when I heard some kind of loud bang noise, so I looked outside and I saw those two running out of Gravesend Cemetery, they looked nervous like they were up to no good,” John said, shortly, as if he had practised his speech, as if they were lines. 

“What do you mean by suspicious?” She asked calmly after putting the microphone back to her vocal range before bringing it back to John’s range. 

“Like they were being sneaky as if they were a part of that cult everyone keeps saying their fighting, but between you and me, They're probably a part of it or somethin’.” 

Carly gave a nod, speaking once more, “And you said you’re in a play, Sir? Which show would that be?” Carly needed to change the topic, of course, any bit of information to push this along and get back to Dianna. 

“That would be  _The Song of Ilium_ , it’s a musical based on the Iliad, you’ll get to see me play Hector, it’s going to be an absolute blast and I hope to see you there.” 

“Well, that’s all we’ve got on this end, and we’re following every lead on this story to bring you the truth, back to you Dianna.” 

Dianna spoke once Carly finished, “Thanks Carly, and in other news, a firefighter saved a child and his dog from a kitchen fire, hear his heroic story at one. After that, we have an interview with New York’s latest entrepreneur, Helena Janson.” 

Jóżef gave an eye roll. “God, I hate these stations, they’re so pretentious.” 

Peter leaned on Jóżef, “Anything for a story, right? Any ideas on how to get people’s minds of the cult for a day so things can just be  _happy_  for a change.” 

“I’ve got nothing,” Jóżef replied, disheartened, wrapping an arm around Peter. 

“I’ve got an idea.” May said suddenly, “By the way, Jóżef, just what  _are_  your powers?” She asked, folding her arms in a display of curiosity. 

Jóżef rolled his right sleeve up, placing it on the desk. He felt comfortable with May by now, his arm changing colour to match the brown coffee table. “I was bitten by a chameleon, like how Peter was. . . Pete, did you tell her how you got your powers?” When Peter nodded, of course, he told May that very simple story, Jóżef continued. “Like how Pete was bitten by a spider. Except it wasn’t really easy to hide that skin condition. That kid who got his doctorate way too early from MIT and worked with Tony Stark a few years back was me.” 

“Ross? That genius kid? Peter was freaking out about him for  _weeks_  it was adorable, he started fixing computers because of that, he wanted to meet Stark so, so, bad.” 

“ _May_.” Peter interrupted, blushing faintly. He gave her a slightly agitated look, basically telling her to cut out with the stories of his childhood. That time he met Tony Stark when he was about eight or nine during the incident with Ivan Vanko was “so much cooler,” in his opinion. “What’s this idea, May?” 

“Well, you two are sort of like celebrities, why not just confirm that you’re dating by posting a picture online in your suits? It’s a good distraction.” May insisted, “I can take the picture if you want too.” 

Jóżef looked over at Peter. “I think it’s a good idea, we might as well give Jameson and his lapdogs something to complain about and expose them for the crooks they are.” 

Peter sighed, what other choice did they have, for now, they needed one normal day. “Alright, fine, but afterwards we’re going out.” Peter smiled at the end of his sentence and pulled Jóżef close for a quick kiss to the lips. “Get changed,” Peter said as he pressed the small buttons on both of his arm accessories, making his new suit form. 

Jóżef did the same, adding a pair of shades to cover his eyes as he lifted his mask just enough to show his lips. Jóżef reached out, lifting Peter’s mask gently and leaning down to kiss the top of his head before he handed May his phone. 

“Alright, I’m ready,” May said calmly as she got the camera properly angled. With that, Jóżef pressed his lips to Peter’s, taking a hold of Peter’s chin to keep him close, his passion put forth as every pure form of love in his heart. “Got it.” 

“Jóżef, should we tease them a bit on the page?” Peter asked 

“Like how?” Jóżef replied. 

“Let’s release two messages a few hours apart then the picture, and no phones between posts. Deal?” Peter was still a child at heart, and if he could make his enemies, as well as his fans, freak out in anticipation for what was to come he would enjoy every moment of it. 

“Let’s do it. Send the first post out now, I’ll send the second one in three hours, sound good?” Jóżef asked with a small mischievous smirk on his face. 

“Yeah.” Peter sat back, eating the rest of his pancakes quietly, covering his mouth once in a while after a brief period of talking with food in his mouth and having both May and Jóżef remind him to cover his mouth, “Soooo, May, me and Joey are gonna go out for the day. Did you have any other questions for my man here?” Peter wrapped an arm around his partner’s shoulder and pulled him close to his body, grinning at his aunt. 

“You two just be good to each other.” May joked, “Oh, Peter I got you some tickets to see the shot at the Saint Ann's Warehouse. I won them in a contest this time, one for both of you. Make sure you go see it.” She went into her purse, which was on the coffee table and went through it. She took out two tickets, she really wanted her nephew to have a good time with his boyfriend, she had been planning to go with Peter but she knew that a kid having to fight as Spider-Man non-stop likely needed a break. 

“Thanks, May.” Peter stuttered slightly as he took the tickets and his them in a pocket. “You know you’re the best right?” 

May smiled weakly pulling Peter in for a hug. “It’s been three years. . . You’ve grown so much.” She let her nephew go soon.  

“Love you May.” Peter, Peter said softly, kissing her on the top of the head before he led Jóżef out of the apartment. Peter took Jóżef to the elevator, smiling when he heard Jóżef deep breath. “I told you you'd do it. And you were fine.” Peter grabbed a hold of Jóżef’s hand, smiling. “And we've got tickets to a play.” Peter kissed Jóżef’s cheek gently, soon pulling out his phone to post on the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Mantwitter page. 

 _Big news coming today guys!_  Said the post. 

Jóżef leaned on Peter, grinning. “Now what?” Jóżef asked, looking towards the door as he finally settled down. 

Peter replied, “We have fun till nine O'clock when the show starts.” Peter said, taking Jóżef’s hand and leading him out of the elevator. 

 

 _Five minutes before five_ _in the_ _afternoon_ , the day had been going normally. Or at least as  _normal_  things can be in the city of New York. Jóżef had posted the second message online a few hours ago, his Twitter dashboard freaking out about what it could possibly be that was “such big news,” and both of them were enjoying it. 

They had gone around Brooklyn the entire day in their civilian clothes, sure, both of them were keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of the last two members of the cult, who were likely holding temples in their own houses. Neither of them enjoyed having to watch their backs for creepy cult members in masks, but it was necessary. Just then, Peter’s phone pinged. 

Peter checked his twitter notification, “There’s been a sighting of a cult member. . .” Peter’s tone was clearly, frustrated, downright defeated. 

Jóżef placed an arm around Peter’s shoulder, “What’s the matter, doll? Where were they seen?” 

“Stalking around the theatre we’re going to.” It was then that Jóżef’s phone pinged, multiple sightings of cult members in Manhattan. 

“They’re branching out to Manhattan.” Jóżef muttered, aggravated. “we’re gonna have to split up, I’ll go to Manhattan and see what I can find. You head to Saint Ann and I’ll meet you then when I’m finished in Manhattan. Be safe.” 

“Right, Let’s get these cultists where they belong, in cells.” Peter kissed Jóżef on the forehead, grabbing his cheeks gently to make his companion look into his eyes. “You come back to me, not one scratch, understand?” Peter asked, a faint smile on his face. That smile got wider as Jóżef let out a little giggle, holding Peter’s wrists with his hands. 

“I promise, not a scratch.” Jóżef leaned down and pressed a quick little kiss to Peter’s nose. “I’ll miss you every minute I'm gone.” 

“I’ll miss you too,” Peter replied, pulling his hands away from Jóżef’s cheeks and turning from him so that he could go to the Saint Ann’s. Peter ran off into a secluded alleyway, pressing the buttons on his wrist accessories once more to suit up. He shot a web onto the tallest nearby building and swung himself into the air, on his way to the Brooklyn Heights. 

Peter found his way to the rectangular brick building with many arches that added extra layers of beauty to the architecture to the building. Peter landed on the side of the building, the streets were mostly deserted, no one wanted to risk getting captured by a cult, especially with people who had survived nearly having their bodies cut open in grotesque displays “in the name of Loki,” running around talking about people needing to travel as groups rather than couples or singles. 

Peter made his way into the theatre through the back, tiptoeing his way through to not disturb either possible cult members or civilian actors who had taken refuge here. It was at that moment he truly pieced together what was likely the situation. “Brother M., an actor friend. That jack ass in the comment section was an ‘actor,’ who’s the only one to see us ‘flee,’ the scene of a cult location and accuse us of being a part of it. He’s a cult member. But if he’s playing Hector in an Iliad musical who’s- 

“Who’s going to play Patroclus? That was your next question, right? Or let me guess, you think you’re Achilles, little Spider-Freak.” It was John Mancovic, holding a pistol in hand, standing at Peter’s side. “That ‘Spidey-Sense,’ of your never works at a good time does it?” 

“Tell me about it. . . What do you cultists want?” Peter had his hands up as Joh walked behind him, his gun pointed to the back of Peter’s head now.  

John clicked his tongue in disappointment, “Now, that’s not a nice thing to call people. We prefer, ‘Lokians,’ and what we want is what you say you fight for, order. Now, little Patroclus, any last words before you die?” 

Before Peter could say his ‘last words,’ which were obviously swear words, John hit Peter in the back of the head with the butt of his pistol, knocking him out. “You’re lucky I can’t resist killing love-struck couples, like you and that little colour changing bastard, together. Now, Patroclus, let’s get your Achilles to fight Hector, but this time, things will play out differently. More of a Romeo and Juliet getting killed by soldiers because they have good communication skills this time around.” 

John grabbed a hold of his mask, which he had hidden in his nearby closet. he placed the mask on, four hours before show time. John didn’t have an army of twenty-five men, he did, however, have his personal ensemble of four others, a perfect little five-man band, all of which were actors who had taken fighting classes to better portray their roles in the musical. John kneeled by Peter, grabbing the teen’s cell phone out of his pocket. 

There was a text from Jóżef about the sighting in Manhattan. Looking at the number, John typed it into his own phone.  _Hey there,_ _love_ _-s_ _truck_ _little fool._  He texted. 

Jóżef almost immediately texted back,  _Who the hell is this?_  

John chuckled before he began recording a video of himself, his right-hand holding Peter’s head up by the top of his mask, “Why, Achilles, its who you’ve been looking for.” He sent this video to Jóżef. 

Peter’s partner was considerably distraught and feeling something beyond enraged.  _If you’ve hurt a hair on his head_ _,_ _I'll slit your fucking throat!_  

 _Let him go you bastard!_  

_Złamię twoją pieprzoną szyję!_

John allowed Jóżef to feel distraught before he finally typed back in two separate messages, just to piss off the “Achilles to his Hector,” he wrote.  _You want him so bad, come save him Mr hero._  

 _I’ll be waiting._  

“John, we have to get back to rehearsing.” It was Viktor, one of his fellow followers of Loki. Viktor played Aries, he was a large and tall man with a partially muscular build. He placed his hand on John’s arm. “Come on.” 

“I gotta have this freak here tied up,” John replied, it was at that point where a man named Charles came out. 

“Hey, John, did you get the- WHOA? Why is Spider-Man on the damn ground?” Charles asked, anger beginning to bubble in his chest. 

“The kid was stalking our theatre man! I had to do something!” 

Chares sighed, forcing himself to maintain composure, “I told you, John, you have to start thinking with your head.” 

John growled, stepping forward, “And I’ve told you that I know what’s best for this team-” 

“Boys, please, calm down, we have bigger things to worry about.” Came the angelic voice of a woman, making Charles and John practically calm themselves in respect of her presence. Her name was Katrine and she was walking with their rather intelligent friend. He was small and tended to stay close to Viktor, his name was Luca. “Luca, how should we handle this?” 

“Let’s tie him up, that'll keep him constrained for a while, we can deal with his partner when he comes, he'll be too emotional to handle us all.” 

“See, I was right!” John said to Charles, making the man roll his eyes in complete disappointment. Charles left to return to rehearsal with Viktor following him. 

 

Jóżef was sitting on the roof of a building which was parallel to the theatre, he was staring in complete worry. He had gotten a text before he arrived, with the bold claim that Peter had been killed.  

Jóżef was of course considerably scared by that very prospect. If Peter was dead it would be all his fault, they should never have split up. Jóżef blinked back his tears, he could not afford to be blinded by his own body while fighting them Jóżef’s skin itself had turned a dark, depressed blue. 

Jóżef made his way into the theatre, his form blending in with the environment. He snuck up to one of the mask-wearing members, dragging him outside and hitting his head into the brick wall twice before letting him fall to the ground.  

Jóżef walked back into the theatre and was confronted by John who was so bold as to not wear his mask. 

“Ah, Achilles. Lover of Patroclus, you have finally arrived. Come to avenge the death of your male varlet?” 

“You didn’t kill him, don’t play these games!” Jóżef growled out, his eyes ignoring the army of ensemble men and women, who had come when John asked for reinforcements, ready to fight Jóżef. 

“Oh, didn’t I? What’s this then?” John asked as he held up a precious lock of Peter's brown hair and one of the lenses of his mask. “I wonder.” 

Jóżef’s body switched from deep blue to a crimson red. “Bastard, I told you. And if you didn’t decide to use damn Google translate: I will fucking kill you!” 

John broke into laughter. “Come then, Achilles, slay Hector. . . if you  _can_. Men, end him!” John turned around, heading off to be with his friends while the cult members took care of Jóżef with their special knives. 

Jóżef never  _intended_  to kill, but it would be a bold assumption to assume that some of those people who ran at him were not dead, especially that man Jóżef threw into the wall full force, or the one he stabbed in the stomach with their own combat tomahawk. He wouldn’t know it but they'd all live through this. 

In this state, the only thing that held Jóżef back from going into a murderous rage was a lack of proper close combat weaponry. He was put in a position of unimaginable hurt and weather, which resulted in nineteen people lying on the ground in the middle of the behind-the-scenes stage. 

Jóżef headed in the direction Hector went, taking out his pistol, he wasn’t playing games so when Charles tried to attack him with a spear Jóżef moved out of the way, his armour not even denying due to the vibranium in it, he grabbed the spear and shot Charles with a bean bag round, yanking the spear out of his hand. Jóżef kicked Charles to the ground and used the counterbalance of the spear to stab into Charles' thigh and pin him to the ground. “Stay down.” 

Jóżef made his way over Viktor and shot one of the paintball like rounds which blinded Viktor with tear gas and pepper spray, Jóżef then shot two electroshock rounds at the man, stunning him. 

Jóżef began loading his pistol once more, filling it with bean bag rounds once more. He made his way towards Katrine who was carrying a combat knife. “Get out the way, before I have to hurt you.” 

“You know I can’t do that. . .” She replied softly. 

“Fine by me.” Jóżef shot her directly with a bean bag round and walked past her once she fell to the ground. 

He approached a trembling Luca who had his hands up. Jóżef glared. “Pathetic little runt.” He grabbed Luca by the collar and by the back of his trousers then  _tossed_  him to the pile of unconscious guards who had stood in his way before. 

His path to John was now clear. Jóżef put his pistol away, he wanted to use his bare hands on John, and make this man’s suffering last. 

John approached Jóżef with a switchblade, which was glowing. “ready to meet Patroclus again? I think he misses you.” John laughed, putting his mask on soon. 

Jóżef charged at John, using his bracers to avoid getting cut, John had been aiming for the only exposed spot which was Jóżef’s face. John was no fool and knew the suit was made of vibranium. “It’s not to join the path of peace, Achilles!” 

Jóżef caught the knife in his left bracer. “Stop with your games, this isn’t a script!” Jóżef gave John a punch to the stomach, making the man step back in momentary pain. 

Jóżef went in to punch him in the side of the head but John avoided this and scratched his knife along Jóżef’s torso pointlessly, sending a few very small sparks scattering. “You don’t have to be involved in this!” 

John ran off towards a kitchen to try and get Jóżef in a closed controllable space. 

“Oh, but I do. You’ve come for my family, and no one, and I mean  _no one_ fucks with my family!” Jóżef took the knife from John's hands and ended up slicing the back of the man's hands. Jóżef grabbed a hold of John's wrist and lunged forward, stabbing John in the stomach and kicking him down to his knees. “You took my  _everything_ , you took what made life worth living! And I’ll have my revenge for that!” 

“Achilles. . . I beg you, surely, you’ve seen the state of this world, it’s in tatters! Only the Cult through Loki can bring peace-” 

“SHUT  _THE_ FUCK UP!” Jóżef ordered, grabbing a hold of John's neck, forcing him to stand. Jóżef pushed him back once more. 

“Please, show mercy, I can’t fight back!” John begged, covering his face. 

Jóżef glared grabbing a deep bowl in the kitchen, he filled it with water from the sink. “Where is Spider-Man's body?” Jóżef was having a moment of clarity,  

“His body, is that all you care about? You’re so selfish!” John was attempting to switch the morality of the situation and guilt trip Jóżef. 

“You son of a-" Jóżef grabbed John by the hair, putting his head into the bowl of water. Jóżef took a sadistic relish in John's panicked squirming, he pulled John's head out of the water “ _WHERE?_ ” 

“I will be remembered by the Cult! I will be their martyr!” 

Jóżef put the man's head back in the water. “Your sorry excuse of a life is worth only the opposite of martyrdom! Die as you lived, as a shape-shifting snake!” 

John's struggling was beginning to lessen before Jóżef heard a voice compelling him to stop. “Peter?” 

Jóżef ran over to Peter immediately, ignoring how John fell to the ground and began catching his breath weakly. “My baby, oh my god my baby you're alive!” 

Jóżef sighed as he took a hold of Peter's cheek. “I failed you, I failed you so much. I’m the worst boyfriend, but I’m glad you’re okay and I understand that you don’t love me anymore.” Jóżef looked down at the ground, frowning. He had screwed the pooch this time, he had failed to protect his boyfriend. 

“Are you kidding? You came back for me even when you thought I was dead. . . Reverse déjà vu?” Peter chuckled, hugging Jóżef tightly. 

“You don’t hate me?” Jóżef asked, hugging him close to his body. “Even though I almost killed him?” He questioned. 

“When Octavius told me he killed you. . . I lost it. It brought up some dark feelings I never thought I had. I’m not mad at you. Just. . . let me web this guy up, then let’s call the police, and go  _home_  we'll watch a movie instead, theatre's. . . kind of old anyway.” 

Jóżef wiped the tears in his eyes away. “I came back without a scratch just for you.” Jóżef hugged Peter tightly once more, sniffling as he felt his eternal partner hug him comfortingly. 

“I’m here. . .” Peter let go eventually, and went around webbing the defeated cult members up while Jóżef called the police. Peter had found a note in Mancovic’s pocket, he would worry about that tomorrow morning. Once all twenty-six were down Jóżef got onto Peter's back, and at that point, Peter swung them to their apartment building in Queens.  

Peter wanted the sweet sounds of the city to lull him to sleep tonight. He took a shower once they arrived, helping Jóżef wash the blood out of his hair. 

Peter turned on an old movie he liked to watch with Uncle Ben and sat snuggled up with his partner. So much for a nice day off, not to mention their busy schedule tomorrow. Peter would handle tomorrow when it came, for now, he wanted to enjoy being embraced by the man he loved.

 

 _Chapter V._ _Glittering Gold Gets No Views_  

 _At seven in the morning_ , Peter finally woke up. He looked at the mess they had made on the table: there were a few soda cans some were tipped on their sides; there was a bag of microwave popcorn, the plastic film discarded somewhere on the table, kernels and popped corn on both the table and the floor; their tv had shut off on its own along with the singular gaming system they used which had Netflix and Hulu. For them it was cheaper than cable, and whatever shows they were interested in which were not on their streaming platforms they would pirate online. 

Peter rubbed his head before he got up, stretching. His back hurt just a little too much for comfort this morning, Peter grabbed one Tylenol and headed into the kitchen, letting Jóżef sleep. Peter was always pushing himself, feeling as if Jóżef did entirely too much around the house as much as he loved having a boyfriend who woke up early and cooked him a special Polish breakfast which usually took one or two hours to make, even with Jóżef’s highly calculating brain. Peter was almost as bad at cooking as his aunt, but how hard could it be to make pancakes? 

Peter took his phone and googled a recipe for pancakes then went to clean their table up. Peter swept the floor free of popcorn and threw out all the garbage they had left behind in the aftermath of movie night. 

Peter began making the pancake mix, humming as he followed the YouTube video to make sure he did everything right, except for when he was told to add “any,” amount of flour in accordance with how many pancakes. Peter, in the end, made too much batter, and the pancakes were huge and slightly burnt on the circumference. Peter looked at the food, proud of himself for what he had cooked. Sure, he could not make pączki, or naleśniki, nor could he make Jóżef’s beyond delicious kopytka which had brown sugar and butter on them and were cooked to a golden brown after being boiled. He could not do that— _yet_  but he  _could_  make his man a nice pancake the size of a dinner plate. 

Peter smiled as he felt Jóżef’s arms wrap around him from behind. “Morning, Joey.” He whispered, grinning brightly as he felt Jóżef’s lips on his neck, “Go grab a shower, I’m almost done cooking.” 

“You’re amazing.” Jóżef purred out, giving Peter a playful pat on the behind before he left to go shower. Peter rolled his eyes with a small grin on his face, Peter began cooking a few sausages, checking on them almost every second that they cooked in order to make sure they were not over or undercooked. Peter took out the sausages using a spatula. Peter put the pancakes and sausages on plates. “And there.” Peter went to shower with Jóżef. 

Once they finished showering together Peter and Jóżef ate breakfast together. “We forgot to post the picture.” Jóżef said calmly, scrolling through his twitter where his “hero,” account was flooded with notifications. “Can I post it?” He asked, and once Peter gave a nod Jóżef drafted a post for Twitter. “‘ ** _Guys, as you saw on the news, something crazy happened in_** ** _@_** ** _stannswarehouse_** ** _the_** ** _#_** ** _crazyguysinthemasks_** ** _are done for now, sorry for the delay with this._** ** _Anyways, for all you_** ** _#shippers_** ** _here’s a_** ** _#_** ** _CrimsonSpider_** ** _pic, yeah, we’re dating go wild_** ’ then I put the picture after it. how’s that sound?” 

“Good, it should distract them for a while but god there’s gonna be so many edits of us now online, it’s gonna be cringey.” Peter sat back as he leaned on Jóżef while eating. “But then again, anything with us looks great.” Peter went into his pants pocket and pulled out the note, “By the way, Mancovic had this on him.” 

“What’s it say?” Jóżef asked as he cut another piece of his pancake, eating it quietly once he finished cutting. 

“Well, your mentioning that is important, because I was going over the clues we found in the Bugle. So, we know for sure that the head person in charge is in the Media, as a part of a local news station, we also know that her last name begins with the letter  _O_. After that, I went over Mancovic’s interview with Carly Branson and from what I can tell, Branson is not a part of the cult, she’s  _too_ innocent to be. But then I remembered that the other notes talked about an up and coming person who became a newscaster and it clicked, ‘ _O_ ,’ is that woman Dianna  _Olsen_. So, I went with the other note from Mancovic to check it out and see if my theory stood up- 

“Here’s what it says: 

 _My humble child M., there are only three of us left. After this ‘play,’ you are doing you are ordered to move to a more secure location to protect your follows. Sister L. and I have done the same: there will be no ceremonies for the foreseeable future, and you are to report to one of the churches in Manhattan for your prayers. I shall do all that I must to put this Spider-Menace in the grave, after those two are gone we shall be free to do as we wish. Until then, remain in the shadows. I shall speak to the_ _Spirit_ _of_ _Sigyn_ _,_ _The_ _Allmother_ _H. J.  -O._  

Now there’s someone by the name of L. and H. J., but the way she’s writing makes it sound like H. J. is higher up than her, and there are temples in Manhattan. This is deeper than we think. I think there are cultists all over New York and not just in Manhattan and Queens now. Those sightings can’t all be going back to some ‘Mother,’ in Brooklyn.” 

Jóżef nodded, rubbing at his chin slightly. “I guess we better hunt down these two while everyone is still focused on that picture of us, we have to go to Avengers Facility upstate today, right?” 

Peter gave a nod in reply and finished eating his pancake, beginning to eat his sausages. “You’re thinking about talking to Thor, man?” Peter kept eating. 

“Oh, how you know me,” Jóżef smiled, leaning down to kiss the top of Peter’s head as he finished his breakfast. “I’ll wash the dishes and when we finish with The Avengers we’ll come back and figure out who this L. is.” 

“Happy's picking us up from here, because. . . Well, I can’t swing us to Upstate New York.” Peter said. It was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Happy's a good guy,” Jóżef said calmly, Peter had known that Jóżef met Happy already, it only made the most sense that he did since  _knowing_  Tony resulted in these powers in the first place. “Doesn't like to talk much though.” Jóżef smiled. 

 

 _At nine and a half in the morning_ , they were walking into Tony Stark's office in the Avenger’s Facility, things were beyond beautiful in the facility to Jóżef, he had only seen technology in such abundance when he was at Stark Tower for around two weeks. The tech had advanced quite a bit since then, however. “Anthony Stark,” Jóżef said, his voice was colourless as Peter sat next to him. Jóżef put one leg over the other and stared at Tony. 

Tony sat back in his chair, “Mister Ross. . . You’ve gotten big! And if Peter’s right you’ve gotten even smarter. I’m guessing time away from MIT was good for you?” Jóżef gave a glare at Tony’s words now, folding his arms. “Bad joke? Yeah. . . anyways, if you’re staying here, we’ve given you and Peter a shared room. You can come by whenever and if you’re up for it, I’d like your help with something I'm working on.” 

“Fine, Stark. Just give me a few hours' notice and I’ll help you.” 

Tony’s face got bright, a wide grin across it. He could not believe that actually worked. “We’ll help you move in, here’s your room key. Just. . . don’t do anything I’d do.” Tony sipped his coffee which was on the table, putting on a pair of shades to cover one of his recent cuts from an accident in the lab. 

Jóżef put the key in his pocket and stood up. “I’ll see you around the facility, Tone,” Jóżef said calmly, holding Peter’s hand gently as he headed to the door. 

“See you around kid,” Tony said calmly, waving them off, “Don’t have too much fun.” They were on good terms again. 

 

 _Around nearly two in the afternoon_ , Jóżef and Peter had not gotten many leads from Thor, the Asgardian was actually more perplexed at the idea of a group of humans worshipping his brother. He told Jóżef to call Tony if he needed his help with this, and if they needed his help it would only be if they actually fought a god. 

“I talked with Karen about my theory on Olsen, she went into the records and found a bunch of people, there are about twenty people professionally and, in her family, whose last name ends with an L. We narrowed our list down to one person who are professionally associated with not only her but with Martha Kenneth and helped fund Mancovic. It can’t be a coincidence.” 

“What’s the name?” Jóżef asked calmly, holding Peter’s hand as he walked down the street with him, he could not wait to put this cult thing behind them, but with the recent revelation that this rabbit hole goes deeper than they anticipated who knows how long that might be. 

“The name’s Clara Lewis, she’s an accountant who’s also donated endlessly to local news stations through other mediums, also known as bribing people. She works in a bank nearby, and if we get there we might be able to find some evidence of her being a part of the Cult. Ready to pull another B & E?” 

“If it means stopping murderers, yeah. Forever and always ready.” 

“Let’s get to it then.” 

The two of them headed towards the bank where their new target worked, Jóżef had on his nanotech shades which were bringing up a layout of the bank for them. “There's a vent we can crawl through on the side of the building.” 

Peter gave a nod and grabbed Jóżef by the back of the collar, swinging them up to the ventilation entrance. Peter crawled through the vent and made sure Jóżef followed him. He was guided through the vents by the same layout Jóżef had been looking at, eventually, they were over their target’s desk. “Okay, I’ll web down,” Peter said, looking at the HUD web election. “Karen, we're using transparent webs.” 

Peter removed the vent covers and set it in front of him, then he activates the cloaking mode on his suit and shot a web at the ceiling of the vent. Peter lowered himself down, unseen by the naked eye thanks to his cloaking tech. He rummaged through Lewis' desk when no one was paying attention, grabbing every suspicious looking thing he could find which included: notebooks, accounting books, and other things. 

Among the evidence, they found a ledger of illegal money transfers to every other known cult member in Brooklyn, a few local politicians, and Dianna Olsen had the highest of these fund transfers. There was enough evidence to convict Lewis on larceny, which was more than enough to put someone funding a cult behind bars for a long while. They found a mask of the Cult with the same symbols on the back from Olsen as well, and a note from Olsen clearly, written very recently. 

 _My child, we are at a crossroads with the capture of Brother M., transfer the last of the funds then find yourself another place of work, I shall meet you tonight with my followers in your home. We just escape to regroup and_ _,_ _eventually_ _,_ _capture Spider-Man and his sidekick. Be on time_ _for_ _the meeting tonight -O._  

“I've got our evidence, let’s take her down quietly. We'll be able to get Olsen tonight as well with the paper I just found.” Peter made his way back down to the room floor and he went around the bank searching for any sign of Lewis. Eventually, he found her working at one of the windows with a customer, Peter could not just take her down in front of the entire bank, if he did it would be all over social media, and result in the cancelling of their meeting tonight. Peter wanted to catch Olsen in the act, so he waited for her to move to a more secluded location. 

As Peter got ready to move from one spot to the other Jóżef came up next to him, waiting for some form of signal. He was beyond fine with having Peter lead this stealth o operation. 

Peter moved, going to the other side of the office while avoiding the workers. When he made it across he followed Clara Lewis into the hallway which led to the bathroom. When he was about to capture her, she pulled out a stun gun. She attempted to shock Peter but he quickly hit her weapon with a web then webbed her mouth to male her silent so the rest of the bank didn't rush over to investigate. 

Jóżef tackled the woman to the ground and Peter began to web her up. They, eventually, took her from the bank and to the local police precinct. 

“Officer, I’ve got another cultist for you, taken with evidence in hand.” Peter handed over the ledger to the officer of course, “We really need your help, we found the leader for this area and we would appreciate some Police back up, there's no telling how many people they've kidnapped this time.” 

“Alright, Spider-Man, I'll get a few cars and we'll head over with you.” 

Peter handed the officer Lewis' address, “Keep it on the down low, go in civilian cars and don’t dress like cops. We can’t afford to scare off the cultists. This will be a stakeout.” 

The officer nodded and put together a small team all dressed in civilian clothing, Peter was busy talking to Jóżef. 

“You did great today.” Jóżef praised softly, holding Peter's hand with their fingers laced together. 

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Peter replied, smiling up at Jóżef under his mask. “If you hadn’t made me this suit, I might've gotten caught.” 

“I think do you would’ve still got her, after all, you're the Spectacular Spider-Man, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Ultimate Spider-Man, the Fantastic Spider-Man, the Inventive Spider-Man- 

“-Okay, okay,” Peter smiled, leaning up to press their foreheads together. “I get it, thanks. Now let’s go drop Olsen so she can’t hurt anyone.” 

Jóżef gave a nod and swift as the wind Peter took them off from the precinct towards Lewis' home. They would be taking her down with the aid of the Police.

 

 _Chapter VI._ _Lights, Camera, Action!_  

Peter sat upon the ledge overlooking Lewis’ home, sitting next to his companion who was feasting upon a bagel with cream cheese. Once in a while, the two of them would get snacks at a 7-Elevenin order to give people time to look at them in awe. With their recent reveal as a couple, they were gaining even more attention than when they were seen as just a crime-fighting duo. In the 7-Eleven some blogger, by the name of Miles had approached them. Miles was apparently a huge fan of Spider-Man and Peter of course had posed for him. 

The publicity was fun when it did not follow them on important trips, and luckily, they had not been followed. Peter had his mask lifted just enough to eat his hot dog while holding Jóżef’s hand. When he finished a bite, he spoke softly. “What do you want to do tomorrow?” 

Jóżef looked over to Peter between bagel bites, holding his hand still. “I think I’d like to just stay home with this cult put out of business, just enjoy your company and cook something.” Jóżef lifted his mask back up and wiped the bagel crumbs from his hands. The Polish man stood, staring down at the building. “I’ve got movement near the building, are you still patched into that officer?” 

Peter stood up, looking at the large building as well, “Yeah, I’ve got his number still. I think we should try to infiltrate silently first. Karen, can you do a bit of recon over there?” Peter watched the little drone fly off of his chest, navigating its way over to the two-floored building which also had an attic. Peter looked at the drone footage through his Head-Up Display, “Okay, there are three men in the attic, Karen’s finding nine people on the second floor—holy mother of crud—there are thirteen on the first floor. . . and there are more in the basement. . . We’re gonna have so much to take care of.” Peter muttered as he perched himself on the ledge. “Get on my back so we can finally get rid of her, it's time to finish what we’ve started. And after that, we can have all the relaxation we want for a while.” 

Jóżef chuckled softly as he grabbed onto Peter’s back, watching his partner shoot a web and swing them over to the building. “Piotruś, I made you another gadget, did you try out your trip mine’s yet?” Jóżef asked, climbing off of Peter’s back and onto the roof of the building, standing over a window. 

“I have trip mines?” Peter asked, handing onto a ledge and looking inside of the attic. 

“Yeah, there’s a low sensor light on them, launch one at one of their back’s and two of them will get trapped, the two by the window opposite of yours.” Jóżef kneeled down and lifted the window carefully, standing over one of the guards in their black robs. They were all armed with a seax and a dagger “Fire a trip mine at one of them on that end and I'll drop down on the man below me. 

Peter replied, “Got it.” After that, Peter looked through his web selection in his HUD, “How did I never notice that?” He asked, chuckling, “He really does think of everything.” Peter opened the window slightly, just enough to put his arm in. He shot the gadget onto the back of one of the guards, two webs flying out and wrapping around them. Peter lifted the window completely as Jóżef landed on top of the man below his own window. Peter climbed into the attic and looked around at the display as he webbed up the man Jóżef had knocked out. “They look like they’ve got plans for something big. This is a map of the underground tunnels in the city with the train route’s overlapping.” Peter lifted the lid off of a crate, “Explosives, uh oh, Joey, we’ve got to stop them, call the cops in when we get to the first floor, Karen, use the drone and go record in the basement, take a couple of the little guys with you so we can ambush the ones downstairs.” 

Karen flew off of Peter’s chest, crawling along the ceiling once she made her way through a crack in the floor. How could she have felt shocked about this many people, it was common for Peter to fight these many people and even more actually. Karen made her way with the smaller drones and seated herself, along with the other drones, across the ceiling of the temple. They were placed in critical spots, the entire electrical symphony ready to perform its grand duty of incapacitating the Cultists. 

Peter headed to the attic ladder, going down the stairs sneakily and quietly. He made sure his cloaking system was on as he went to the nearest wall, climbing on the ceiling afterwards and making his way to a spot above the nine men. Peter looked towards the window on the left side where one man was standing, the centre of the room which had five people, and the window on the other side had three men next to it. Peter looked to Jóżef, hoping the man knew what his plan was. When he was given a nod and watched Jóżef pull out three non-lethal arrows. 

Peter set up a normal web in one shooter and a web grenade in the other, he launched the web grenade at the five men before he dropped down and began shooting the man by the window with webs till he stuck to the wall. Peter heard the thud of three people hitting the ground and looked over to Jóżef, who was putting the three men in a pile while they sat up. Peter went around, wrapping webs around the mouths of every cultist to ensure they could not talk, “Enjoy your facial wax.” He said calmly. Sure, he was making jokes, but it helped him not panic from the very idea that these cultists where going to do something with explosives and train tunnels. 

“Jóżef, call the cops in,” Peter ordered as he made his way down the flight of stairs, clinging to the wall as his cloaking suit hid him from the eye. He crawled onto the ceiling and listened to the world around him as the men suddenly became more alert and his Spidey-sense began tingling frantically. Then,  _it_  happened, all in one sudden movement. 

The door busted open by the battering ram of a S.W.A.T. team, tear gas flying into the room. Peter shot a web to the basement door, zipping over with ease as he watched the guards get into a fight with the swat officers, utilizing their seaxes efficiently. They were like dancers, moving with great speed and avoiding every bullet shot at them. The carbines of the S.W.A.T. team were discarded as if they were garbage. 

Peter made his way into the basement with Jóżef trailing behind him, listening to the occasional gunfire from above them. It was then that they heard that familiar, compelling voice, the same one they had heard on the news not too many days ago. 

“My children, they come for us, they come for you, me, and for our Great Mother! We must not go down without resistance, prepare yourselves for they come now, bow in hand, prepared to meet us with brutality. You saw what they did to Brother M., you saw what they did to Sister K., if we stand strong that’ll not happen to us, and we shall deliver the two unholy forces to our Great Mother where they shall be sacrificed in the name of the true gods!” 

Peter carried Jóżef along the wall of the temple and examined every guard in the room, many of them, specifically the man, armed with a Carolingian of some kind, along with all manner of daggers and knives; The women were armed with wither a geirr or a seax with some other form if dagger. The guards with geirrs had shields and the ones with dual blades had shields on their backs. 

Peter glared. “Karen, now.” 

And with that the ensemble of the electrical orchestra of pain begun, several drones raining down pain upon armed guards. Karen was aiming for their backs if they had geirrs and their torsos if they had Carolingians. Peter and Jóżef dropped down to the scene when ten or so of the worshipers of Loki were incapacitated. Jóżef went around, fighting multiple guards at once while Peter dodged attacks, using his acrobatic skills to attack the people who made attempts on his being. “One cultist, two cultists, three cultists, four. How many will come before I don’t-” He shot multiple webs at one of them then used a long web to spin that enemy around, and finally launch him into a crowd, making the cultists disperse. “-Have to deal with you anymore?!” 

Peter saw Olsen, who was standing on top of a platform with a push knife. Peter shot a web directly on her and zipped over, punching her with as much force as he could muster without practically crippling her. The mask cracked, exposing one of her eyes. There was a small bruise under her eye. “Welcome to your grave.” She said before lunging the push dagger at Peter. 

The male barely escaped the stab, his suit slightly tearing. “Holy hell, vibranium? You’ve got  _that_  kind of cash?!” Peter shot a web at the push dagger but. . . missed? he missed! It was unbelievable, how did this woman move fast enough to avoid his web? 

Peter stared at the glowing push dagger and he charged straight at her, his spider-sense telling him to move before he was already near her, he did exactly that, making his way under her by sliding down. He sprung up and kicked her in the back, sending her to the ground. Peter quickly webbed Olsen’s hands behind her back and her feet to the ground, he took the mask off of her, staring at the object which was glowing. It suddenly felt as hot as fire, making him drop it naturally, then stomp on it till it was in pieces.  

“I’ll get my revenge Spider-Man, me, the Spirit, and the whole cult shall have its revenge! You will die in less than a month for interfering!” 

“I’d love to see that, Hun. Enjoy your all white cell!” Peter rolled his eyes as he watched the S.W.A.T. team enter the temple. Peter took Jóżef away swiftly, allowing the police to handle what remained of the cultists, which were only five members. 

 

 _As they arrived home_ , Peter smiled at his partner, it was now ten at night, that was perhaps one of the longest, if not  _the_ longest stakeout in Peter’s life. Peter walked into the apartment building, soon lifting his larger boyfriend and carrying him to bed as if he was weightless, “tomorrow,  _crêpes_ , all the crêpes, okay?” 

“I can manage that, but for now I want to rest. . . my muscles are so soooore.” Jóżef chuckled out softly, leaning on Peter gently as they got into the bed. Jóżef removed his clothing to be in his underwear, throwing the jeans and shirt he was wearing to the side, He leaned on Peter who eventually, joined him in bed, yawning softly. “Dobranoc,” Jóżef whispered as he closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep, the realization that someone was in their closet never hitting him. 

FINIS PRIMUS LIBER DE QUINQUE 


	2. Book II of the Cult of Loki: The Tap Dancing Cat and the Albino Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being awakened by a deadly cult assassin, Spider-Man and Red Umbra go on the offensive. They enlist extra help to take down the Queens sect of the cult and meet two heroes along with a police officer, who help them protect the city.

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__The Second Book of_ ** _The Cult of Loki_**

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**_The Second Book of Five on the Tales of Peter Parker and Jóżef Ross Against the Lokians_ ** _ _

_ Chapter I. Surprise Party _

When Jóżef rested in the bed, his eyes fluttering shut, he grabbed a hold of his Peter, drifting off into a peaceful but light sleep. “Dobranoc,” He whispered as his eyes finally closed. The light humming of the blade only got louder, a squeak heard in their bedroom, too light to wake either of the heroes, but light enough to make the still active parts of  Jóżef’s body go alert. The humming became more intense as the knife was raised.

As  Jóżef’s eyes opened, he saw the business end of a scramasax , glowing and radiating with the energy he had seen only a few hours later. He kicked his assailant from him and hastily got out of the bed. He could not grab any of his weapons because the attack was quickly coming back at him. Out of instinct,  Jóżef covered his face with his forearms, growling in pain as he felt the new cut. “That’ll take hours to heal!” He ducked as the cultist attempted to attack his face, sweeping them by the leg and making them fall to the ground. 

Jóżef immediately tried to clamber on top of them but the attacker moved out of his way by rolling. The assailant sprung to their feet and charged at Jóżef. The Polish man moved to the side and grabbed a hold of their arm. He placed his forearm under the attacker’s chin and tripped them once more, watching as Peter groggily sat up now, rubbing his eyes and clearly looking frustrated from his spidey-sense going crazy. “Babe, get down!” Jóżef ordered, grabbing the scramasax from the attacker, the energy leaving the weapon immediately. “Got you now.”

The attacker chuckled wildly but quietly behind their mask, grabbing Jóżef by the ankle and tossing the man from their chest, making Jóżef stumble back slightly. The attacker got up quickly, their heels practically sparking as they zipped from one end of the room to the other, before Jóżef knew it he found a hand around his neck, the knife being pried from his hand. “Feigr, thrott lauss.” As they were about to stab Jóżef, there was a firm thread of webbing around the attacker’s neck and Peter pulled them away from Jóżef, making them struggle for air.

Jóżef picked the scramasax up once more and approached the cultist, watching as Peter pinned the person to the ground and pulled their arms behind their back. Peter webbed their wrists together along with their ankles. Peter hog-tied them and finally put a web made collar around their neck and made a leash of webs to tie at the large knot of their jointed limbs. Peter sighed as he finally finished protecting his partner. “And I just won the hog wranglin’ contest!” He said, in a mock Texan accent.

“Thanks, babe,” Jóżef muttered placing the knife on the dresser. “The cult knows where we live then. . . who sent you?!” He yelled, looking at their attacker, who did not speak for a while. That was before Jóżef began pulling their hair out at painful intervals. 

“Brother A., of Queens. Now stop that hurts!” The attacker was glaring behind their mask, a tear falling from the pain caused by having their hair ripped out. Jóżef eventually demanded a more specific location or any information that could assist him and his partner. When the cultist did not respond Jóżef pulled out a large lock of hair, he was not going to repeat himself. “Fine, fine! The brother is involved in medicine!”

Jóżef sighed, “Alright, get your suit on and let’s take this garbage to the police department. I’ll keep an eye on them.” Jóżef grabbed a hold of the scramasax and began cleaning it off with the rag he used for an old pair of glasses, putting his dog tags back on so a set of gloves would appear, along with sleeves, and prevent his own fingerprints from covering the handle of the knife. He put the knife in the hand of the cultist carefully, taking it when the attacker’s fingerprints were on the handle as he needed. Jóżef took special care to ensure that the attacker did not have time to cut themself free. When Peter was suited up Jóżef made his suit cover him, “Let’s get going, we’re gonna have to investigate the hospitals now since our bastard of a guest here has only told us that the person who put a hit on us works in medicine. Should pull all their hair out for it.”

Peter chuckled faintly, picking up their attacker and placing the knife on his utility belt.  “Well, babe, if the person is anything like the last cult they’d have some stake in having us killed, some way of being connected to what our outcome would’ve been should our little friend have succeeded, probably get a reward for offing us.” Peter took the attacker out of the window and carried them to the police department while Jóżef was on his back, holding on tight. “Well, if that's right, then our hitters gotta be a coroner or something at the hospital in our area.”

“You are without a doubt, a genius, my sunshine,” Jóżef said calmly, making sure the attacker did not fall to their death at this height. Jóżef was completely amused by how smart his partner was, his boyfriend’s intellect never ceased to impress him.

“Thanks, I try!” Peter said, laughing happily, a slight snort heard between laughs, eventually, the lights of the police department became visible.

“Could you two shut up?” The cultist asked, immediately regretting their words by the look on Peter’s face as the Spider-Man lowered them close to the street to scare the cultist for a moment. 

By the time they arrived at the police station, Jóżef told Peter his plan. “If our suspect is a coroner that means they’ve infiltrated our law enforcement in Queens, no cops will help us this time, they’re without a doubt compromised, hell our guest here might be a cop.”

“You’re right. . . That’s a lot of work for us you know?” Peter asked, “Taking down another sect of the cult isn’t going to be easy without cop raids. . . Maybe we should ask for backup or something this time around.”

“Seems best, but who are we gonna get to help us?” Jóżef asked, folding his arms.

“I’ll tell you when we take this dude in,” Peter said calmly. After he spoke with his partner he took the cultist into the police station. “Special delivery. One cultist who attacked us at our home.” Peter dropped them on the ground along with the knife as evidence. “Fingerprints are all over this, have fun officers.” Peter was short and concise with them, he could not trust the police for now.

He grabbed his partner and went up to the roof of a nearby building, folding his arms and stretching to wake himself up further. “So, there’s an up and coming hero, calls herself Black Cat, kind of a Robin Hood wannabe when she wants to be, but overall she seems like someone who can help us with this. Oh, and there’s some guy called Daredevil, he’s all over twitter. . . and May may or may not have a bit of a crush on him from all those posts she keeps sharing on Facebook, but anyways, he lives in Hell’s Kitchen and he could also help us with this, guy’s pretty cool.”

“Let’s try this Black Cat first. You find her, I’ll investigate the coroner’s office here in Queens and go to every morgue in this borough, I’ll follow every person with the last name ‘A,’ in Queens who works at a morgue.” Sure, it was a large list but Jóżef had a good streak of luck when it came to finding cultists.

“Okay, good luck with everything, Joey. I can’t believe they tried to attack us, I’m gonna text aunt May and tell her to be careful. If they  _ do _ know who we are then we’ve gotta warn our families.”

Jóżef nodded, leaning down to give Peter a gentle kiss to the forehead. “I love you, come back with our new friend and I’ll get rid of the other one.” Jóżef watched as Peter swung off easily, the Polish man went to investigate the nearest morgue once he could no longer see Peter.

Jóżef jumped from one building to another, going along the more urban parts of Queens hastily. Peter was on to something about these cultists if they were like the previous ones they were deeply rooted in the police sector of Queens since their hitter was likely a mortician.

Jóżef, like a snake, made his way into the morgue through the window on the top floor of the two-story building. Jóżef narrowed his eyes as he was confronted with the sight of two men wearing masks in this small room on the second floor. His camouflage powers were already active, meaning they had neither seen him nor had they heard him due to his sneaking skills.

Jóżef made his way to the two guards, hitting their heads together easily, hiding their unconscious bodies off in the darkness, making sure their bodies did not hit the ground in order to prevent being compromised. “Twelve men, of course, thanks J.A.R.V.I.S., well, ten now. Now shh.” Jóżef whispered, he was keeping count of guards now, twenty-five members for every ‘sibling,’ assuming their failed hitman was a member of this small temple they would be down to twenty-four, subtracting the two Jóżef just knocked out making twenty-two.

Jóżef snuck his way into the main room, he only found guards on the second floor, and the first floor was empty, meaning the morticians, if either of them were innocent, were on break. Jóżef may have effectively been invisible but the risk of making noise or someone accidentally bumping into him. And if he was to be compromised he did not want to be faced with ten armed men without his partner by his side.

Jóżef made his way into the next room which paralleled the main room but was similar in structure to the last one, shadows cascading everywhere. In this room, he found three men, one at the doorway looking to the others, and those two were busy inspecting the shelves.

Jóżef used a small rope he had to choke the man at the doorway until he knocked out, setting him down, he threw a round of his tear gas-pepper spray concoction, making a small cloud of the brew appear, he had his glasses form to protect his eyes. Jóżef threw a small smoke round which covered the small room and enabled him to knock out the two guards one at a time, hiding them in the corners as well. Jóżef’s attack resulted in one of the guards from the main room investigate the situation, to which Jóżef promptly escaped by climbing out the window and closing it behind himself.

Jóżef scaled the building going through another window which led to a utility closet which had a lot of laboratory and mortician equipment, along with cleaning supplies. Jóżef blended in with his surroundings once more, grinning behind his mask, only seven more.

Speaking of which, Jóżef pulled one of them into the closet and knocked them out, hiding them behind one of the warehouse shelves which had many boxes on it. Jóżef made his way out of the closet, one of the six remaining guards had gone into the room Jóżef had just been in with the three unconscious men. Jóżef looked at the nearest guard who was going to the first room Jóżef had been, a pistol in their hand to investigate if anything suspicious had happened. As they were about to call out for help when they saw the two hidden unconscious guards in the shadows, Jóżef covered their mouth. Jóżef got them in a choke hold and eventually knocked them out, hiding them in a corner in the room as well.  _ Five left _ . Jóżef thought. He snuck back out of the room and took out three knockout arrows, he might alert the last two of them when the other three went down but he could handle two guards with his gear on. 

Jóżef fired his arrows and the bodies fell to the floor unconscious, making loud thud sounds, one of them hit a bucket and caused a loud clanking sound. Jóżef three a smoke round to blind the last two and his UV vision came in handy during this. He hit one of the guards in their face, making them fall and by the time the smoke had dissipated only one of them was standing with a Carolingian sword in their hand. Jóżef smirked and got into a fighting stance. “One on one again, and this time I’ll win.”

As the Carolingian armed attacker came at him, Jóżef sidestepped and tripped the attacker, chuckling deeply. “Wstań, Kurwa,” Jóżef smirked behind his mask as the attacker got back up. The cultist tried to stab him, but Jóżef moved to the side and hit the cultist in their wrist with his fist. He grabbed a hold of the sword’s grip and pulled it from his attacker’s hand, almost breaking into laughter as the cultist tried to escape. Jóżef rolled his eyes as he hastily unscrewed the pommel of the Carolingian, he threw it at the cultist and listened to them fall down the stairs. “Sounds like I just ended you rightly.” Jóżef walked down the stairs and took the unconscious cultist back up the stairs, the cultist was lucky to be alive. Jóżef hid them upstairs then went down the stairs once more into the first-floor room, which was a typical morgue room. It features a few examination tables, body drawers, and was painted a single colour.

Jóżef investigated the desks. They all of course began with the letter A, making his job more difficult. He took his time combing through the files in each desk, checking all of them for hidden notes. Eventually, when searching through a mister Ravid Acharya’s desk he came across a journal with a key in it. He sat there, beginning to read through the journal for any hopes that he might find something this key is connected to.

_ Journal Entry 1. This city is getting out of control. Those guys in the paper were right, I'm tired of pulling bullets out of corpses all the time just because some bigger got brave. . . _

 

_ Journal Entry 2. When my mother brought me from our homeland to this place she said it would be great, but here I only find death and sadness. . .  _

 

_ Journal Entry 3. I have come in contact with a man who only uses an initial to communicate with me, says it protects his identity. He invited me to dinner. _

 

_ Journal Entry 4. I think he might like me. Like  _ _ like _ _ me. I like him a lot too, he says he has something to show me in a few days I'm so excited. _

 

_ Journal Entry 5. Oh god so much happened in only a few days, I wish I could tell it all. I can't though because he asked me not to. It's hard to hold in what I'm talking about but I'll try for him. _

 

_ Journal Entry 6. My fellow churchgoers have helped me install something in the floor here to practice my faith. They've taught me how to pray and I'll do, as they say, they haven't been wrong yet. I've got my key already, I'm so excited to get things over with. _

Jóżef closed the journal and hid it in his drawer once more, making a mental note of where it was. He began investigating the floor using his glasses, checking for any keyholes, he also looked at the wall when he eventually noticed that there was a painting on the wall right behind Ravid's desk. Jozef came over to the painting and moved it aside, finding a keyhole in the wall.

Jóżef put the key in the wall and turned it, hearing a faint click. Jóżef headed to the source crouching down as he saw the raised panel of the floor. He lifted it and eleven other panels lifted, showing a pathway downwards. Jozef turned on his phone flashlight and walked down into the stairwell.

It was already dimly lit by a set of torches which showed the path to the underground temple which was basically a straight path down the winding stairs.

Jóżef entered the main temple which was decorated with sweet roses and daisies, the scent if sweet fragrance permeating the room. “Nicest temple I've seen so far.” There was a small statue of Loki and Sigyn in the centre with burnt offerings of meat on the altar. “And of course they had to kill someone on it.” Jozef sighed as he folded his arms. “So there's a temple in the morgue, I'll call Peter and get his help with securing.” Jóżef headed back up the stairs, contacting Peter as he walked up the stairs once more. He was determined to rid the cult of its temples and property, no matter how pretty they could be made to look. He refused to let more innocent civilians be sacrificed, and the fact that the pigs were in on it meant that Jóżef would have to be extra careful.

“Hey Peter, I found another temple in the morgue, we got really lucky again, our doctor Ravid Acharya is apart of the Cult, and I'm sure he's the Brother we were looking for, try to get here as soon as-” There was a creaking sound as the door to the morgue began opening, Jóżef hung up the phone quickly as he hid behind one of the desks. Jóżef listened to the pitter patter of footsteps, faint talking echoing through the room.

Jóżef camouflaged himself and looked at the man who walked past him. He was skinny, about five feet and seven inches tall, he had a well-trimmed beard and moustache, he was talking to someone in Hindi. Jóżef let the man walk around through the building, tailing him slowly and carefully. Jóżef reached out, his hands carefully dipping into the man’s lab coat, the Polish man was staying as quiet as he could, grabbing whatever he could find in the pockets and hiding them. By the time he retreated from his target the man was headed up the stairs.

Jóżef listened as the man let out a harsh gasp, then began speaking anxiously in English. Within a moment ten men came into the room, all armed with rifles and wearing masks.  _ Fu- _ Jóżef did not have enough nanotech to cover his face to fight against ten rifles, he snuck past one of them, he  _ had _ to get to the door so he could escape and regroup with Peter.

As one came by his hiding spot he pulled them down, choking them out till they were unconscious. Jóżef moved to another hiding spot and looked over at the stairwell, watching as one of the guards was suddenly pulled away by. . . nothing? Jóżef then saw the man from before walk down.

“I want their heads, they are  _ not _ going to destroy everything I’ve built from the slums of this city!” The man continued, “And if you don’t find them,” He grabbed a hold of one of the guards, “I’ll use your head instead.” He tossed them back and Jóżef saw Peter pull one of the guards up to the ceiling and web them up. Peter was getting better at this. 

The other eight guards had been distracted and eventually, two of them headed to one end and the others began passing by Jóżef then dispersing themselves around the other end of the room. Peter pointed to the group of two on the other end of the room near him, Now that Jóżef had his orders he made his way over to the two men. He and Peter could handle four men with rifles even if they were alerted.

On the count of three, Peter shot a trip mine at the two guards near him and Jóżef knocked out the two near them, setting them down carefully.

Jóżef looked behind himself and saw four guards aiming their rifles at his now revealed form, that was before they were suddenly twitching and convulsing, soon falling to the ground. A rather feminine voice soon said, “Well that wasn’t very rewarding, what a bunch of losers.” the voice continued as Jóżef stood up, “Spidey, I thought you said they’d be a challenge.”

“Black Cat, I presume,” Jóżef interrupted, holding his hand out to the younger woman. She seemed around nineteen or twenty.

“Mister Red Umbra.” She said, a faint smirk on her face. She held out her hand, shaking Jóżef’s easily. “Looks like we just saved you.”

“Cat, calm down. Babe, what did you find, any notes?” Peter asked. That was before Jóżef dug around in his suit’s ammo pouches and pulled out a few slips of paper.

“I found two. Guy had a lot of candy wrappers in his damned coat,” Jóżef muttered, “I’ll read them out: 

_ My love, I have sent to you an agent, they are the one who is handing you this note. This agent is a spy who knows the identity of Spider-Man and Red Umbra, they are a part of your temple because I trust you, place the hit on those two and we shall meet at my office, Jeg elsker deg. - Father N., _ ”

Jóżef handed Peter that note then began reading the next one: 

“ _ Brother A., I am working on finding our enemy, now that we know he lives in Queens, I will discover his identity and find a way to place charges on all people in his life. His partner’s name should come with, and when that is over we will have no one to stand in the way of our take over, be safe - Brother M., _ ”

Jóżef handed Peter the note, folding his arms. “They aren’t playing games anymore, you saw those rifles. We’ve got to be more careful this time, Black Cat, you can handle yourself with us right?” Jóżef wanted her to know what she was getting into.

“I’ve been running avoiding these bozos for a while yeah, I can handle a few masked dummies.” Black cat placed her hands on her hips. “The question, big guy, is if you can handle them or not.” She gave a smirk, almost chuckling as Jóżef seemed to get a bit offended.

“Alright, let's get going,” Peter said, defusing the situation quickly. “But first I’ve got to web up these fools while I can, let's call our guy in the force, we can trust  _ him _ to take these guys in.”

Peter lifted his mask slightly to give Jóżef a gentle kiss on the nose. “I'll be back in a few, don't get into a fight.” He whispered, pulling his mask back down after and heading up the stairs.

As Peter webbed up the cultists so they could be taken to jail, Jóżef had a conversation with Black Cat. “So. . .  Can I get a first name? We all work on a first name basis on our internal comms.” Jóżef held up a small earpiece, handing it over to the younger woman. “Because for now we're a team.”

“You first,” She replied as she placed the earpiece in, sitting back against the desk. She was protective of every bit of her identity, especially with this cult around and with her record of cat burglaries against the bigwigs of New York, hell when Bezos came back to Manhattan she was planning on pulling a little heist, the valuables she would find could put food on the table for many people.

“Ulrikh.” Jóżef said calmly, it wasn't a lie, it was, in fact, his middle name, but fewer people will find out his true identity if he uses a name that sounds like ‘Ulrich,’ for work purposes.

“European?” She asked, already realizing that this man had a slight accent and a foreign name.

“Half,” Jóżef replied simply, leaning against the wall.

“I'm Felicia,” She smiled, sure she enjoyed aggravating Jóżef already but for now she knew when seriousness was required. “Where ya from?”

Jóżef looked over to her, he had been looking at the wall parallel to them. “Brooklyn. What about you?”

“Queens, this is my home, and no one's messing with it. Especially not some cultists. Where in Brooklyn did you grow up?”

Jóżef sighed softly. “Take a wild guess. I've got a funny European accent. . .”

“That's a lot of places.” She said, breaking into laughter before Peter came back down the stairs, heading to one of the rooms to begin webbing up the other cultists.

“Fine fine. I'm from Greenpoint,” Jóżef didn't want to speak about his past, nor possibly put his parents at risk, but there were a lot of people in Green point. “You?”

“Flushing, But I'm mostly in Manhattan these days.”

“College student?” Jóżef asked, watching as Peter started walking up to him, finished with webbing them up.

“Yeah,” Felicia replied, standing up soon so they could get going. 

“Well, we won't take up too much of your time,” Peter interrupted. “let's go catch some cultists.” The Spider-Man headed out of the building.

 

_ Chapter II. Clap for the Leaving Little Ri _

“Mister Spider-Genius of the night, where do you think Acharya is hiding?” Jóżef asked, hanging onto Peter by the back as Felicia followed behind them using a grappling gun to easily keep up. Jóżef took note of the tech Felicia used and found several spots to improve, he also noticed that the suit looked. . . oddly familiar.

Peter spoke calmly as he kept swinging throughout the city, “If the note is any indicator he’s probably going to some other morgue office, it's gotta be why else would the other guy say ‘come by his office?’” Peter was headed to the next morgue, ready to capture Acharya and bring him to justice for his actions. As they arrived at said morgue they saw a police officer outside.

Peter landed next to the officer and Jóżef got off of Peter’s back, watching as Felicia made her way to the roof of the building, perched up there out of the officer’s view. “What’s going on here officer?” Peter asked, noticing how Jóżef was looking up at the building, knowing that Felicia had made her way up there.

“Listen, bug, I don’t need you here to help me with this. It’s just a noise complaint.” The officer seemed on edge, more nervous than calm about the situation. Whatever this was it certainly was not a simple noise complaint.

“You sure about that chief?” Peter retorted as he already had his suspicions about the cops thanks to the assassination attempt on his and his partner’s life. Peter folded his arms, tapping his foot impatiently.

Jóżef placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Uspokój się,” The man whispered, looking at the officer after he was done talking to Peter. “Now, officer, will you just let us go inside? We’ve got a lead to investigate.”

The officer released a deep sigh. “Okay, okay, just stay quiet so we can get this over with.” The officer muttered, going into the building after knocking and getting no response other than the door opening on its own. The officer took out his flashlight and headed inside.

“So, officer Martin., any family, kids?” Peter asked, trying to make conversation with the man who he followed after. He knew he would anger the guard who was likely a Bugle believer but he enjoyed doing that. 

Jóżef noticed that Felicia was no longer perched on the building so he tried to connect with her via the commlink in his ear. “Felicia, where are you?” Jóżef asked calmly, standing outside to make sure the cop did not hear him.

“I’m already inside, looking at the cop who just arrived inside, in case something goes wrong, you saw what he was like,” Felicia replied as she sat on a beam which spanned across the building with other beams. She had a bird’s eye view of the entire room and was able to take note of every movement the group on the ground made. 

Peter entered the building, observing the empty space, it was old on the inside, the walls had decrepit beige paint which one could easily peel away with the touch of a finger. It was a mess, what little that was inside was spread around the room in its corners. “A noise complaint you said, officer Martin? You sure. . ?” The lenses of Peter’s mask narrowed, it would have been impossible for a noise complaint to have come from here, “Maybe the house next door is the one you should check out. . . Or are you hiding something from us officer, like a hidden basement?”

Officer Martin stood firmly, “Nope, I’m certain this is the building, Spider. Let’s split up and check the rooms.” Martin headed out of the main room and went towards another one, he was called in on a noise complaint and he was planning on investigating it in every way possible.

Peter sighed quietly before he went to investigate another room, his spidey sense had been between going on full alert and nothing had been going on. Usually when it went on full alert something horrible was behind him, like the can which fell from the top shelf and hit Peter on the head. “Really? Really, a can? You get fussy over a can?” Peter picked up the can and set it on the shelf it had fallen from. He loved his spidey-sense, especially since it gave him cat-like reflexes if he really focused on his surrounds rather than let his anxiety in battle or creepy places get to him.

Peter narrowed his eyes as he looked at a specific spot on the wall, noticing a large dent in it. “Karen, can you examine this spot while I keep looking around?” He asked, watching as the little drone came off of his chest and went to the crater in the wall. Peter exited the room, going into another one where Jóżef was, watching his boyfriend bend over and examine something on the ground. “Whatcha got there babe?” He asked, standing over Jóżef as the man checked the ground.

“I’ve got the remnant of some sort of boot print here, but not much else, it looks like a size ten or so. It looks a bit like a law enforcement style boot, kinda like mine. It means whoever Acharya’s meeting up with is in the damn police department, or at least knows how to cover their tracks properly. Wait. . . you didn't let Martin out of your sight right? Felicia, come in.”

“I’m here.” She replied easily, still looking at the officer from above. “I’ve been looking at him the whole time, he’s headed back over to you. Keep him distracted for a while, I saw him leave something over here.”

“Alright,” Jóżef replied, calmly. He held Peter’s hand as the officer returned to him, not knowing that Peter was having a chat with Karen via an internal chat machine. Karen was telling Peter that the dent was a human head.

“The crater,” Karen wrote, “Is from a person having their face hit into the wall, I have found traces of hair inside and have found a matching identification, mister Thomas Martin. He is the brother of Frank Martin, Thomas Martin is who you took to the station, I suspect Frank Martin is involved, activating defensive mode, ready to attack on your orders.”

The way Karen could write things so matter-of-factly always had Peter give her his undying respect. It also weirded him out. Conversations like this made Peter remember that while Karen was his close friend she was also an A.I. who had a mission to do at the end of the day, and of course Karen cared, why else was she activating defence mode without being completely sure about Frank.

“So, Martin, you never answered my question. You got any family?” Peter asked, trying to wrap Frank in a knot, if Frank’s brother was Thomas then Frank was either involved with the cult willingly or he was just nervous because his brother went missing from a police station, and if the latter was the case he would have a new man he could possibly work within the pig agency.

Frank looked up at Parker, a cigarette in his mouth and a lighter in his hand. “What’s it matter to you? You got someone other than that little boyfriend of yours that you care about?” Frank lit his cigarette soon, inhaling the nicotine and burning tar, he had been smoking for his whole life and he knew it was ruining him, but the stress of this job was getting to him. Maybe he will get help some day. The taste was bitter yet felt smooth for the officer. “Now stop asking, because I’m here to do my job and stay away from freaks like you.”

Felicia was talking to Peter on the internal comm, telling him that she found a cultist mask and a few weapons which included a pistol. . . and a knife or two. Peter looked up at Felicia who was prepared to jump down when Peter gave a signal, and soon enough Peter said something preposterous to tell Felicia to get their ‘good friend,’ here. “Freaks like us? Sounds kind of  _ homophobic _ , my man.” it was preposterous to say this because it was obvious the officer had disdain for them not due to their relationship but due to the fact that he obviously hated ‘enhanced individuals,’ such as Peter who was frequently called a freak for being able to stick to walls. 

At that moment Felicia jumped down behind the officer, shooting her grappling gun and making the man look at her. She made her way into the air, jumping onto the man's shoulders in a sitting position. She wrapped her legs around his head and leaned back, putting her arms out in order to throw the man down onto the ground with force, making him curl up in pain from multiple fractures in his arm and a pain in his back.

“Can you do that?” Peter joking asked his partner. Peter could move almost as well as Felicia, but her powers made her abnormally flexible. He had never tested out Jóżef’s flexibility though and he was quite interested in knowing if his partner could do things like this.

“I’m not sure, never tried,” Jóżef replied with a chuckle, looking down at Peter with a smirk behind his mask.

“Hey, lovebirds! Stop talking so much and help me keep this guy down.” Felicia had her foot on top of the man’s chest so he could not get up and as Peter came over, webbing his hands to the floor. As he pinned the man Jóżef noticed his size ten shoe and Karen told Peter that the knife and pistol had Thomas Martin’s blood on the blade but Frank Martin’s fingerprints on the handle. The mask had strands of Frank’s hair as well. “I found a note too,” Felicia said, holding up the note proudly, “Our little friend’s apparently gone through with his fratricide: 

_ Dear Brother M., your sibling has betrayed our way by telling the Spider about Brother A.’s work. We expect for you to handle this mess, and until this job is done Brother A. shall be put in charge of your temple. Right your sibling’s wrong and we shall welcome you once more with open arms, enclosed you will find the blade you are to kill him with, and a few carvings to put in your mask to do this more effectively, I’m sure you know how skilled your brother is in combat so we have spared no expense with your gear. I will handle your brother’s case myself. When the job is done leave him at the demolished temple in Queens. Brother A. will meet you at your temple later tonight for service. - Father N. _

So, ‘officer’ cultist, would you like to tell us about this little meeting spot of yours or do we have to beat it out of you?” Felicia was glaring down at Frank now, the evidence was beyond overwhelming

“Surely you’re joking! Now get off me, lady!” Frank would attempt to get himself out of this, even though he was beyond sweating from nervousness. That changed once he saw one of Felicia’s retractable claws shine in the moonlight that came through the window. “Y-you won’t touch a hair on my head!”

“Oh, she will. And she can, especially with this evidence here.” Jóżef said, folding his arms. He knew she legally could not but their guy in the force would handle the logistics of that. Usually, the threat alone or just ripping out a bit of hair worked since most cultists were normal people who could not handle intense pain for long. “Now tell us before she gives you a few scars that'll be all too obvious.”

The officer narrowed his eyes before he had that sharp claw brought close to his face, “Okay, okay! It’s at an old Quaker meeting place in Flushing! Just leave my face alone!” Frank did not want to risk getting badly injured, how ironic, he had killed his brother for doing what he just did.

Felicia’s claw retracted and she stood up properly. “Let’s get to flushing, I swear to god if they’ve hurt anyone-

“-Black cat,” Jóżef interrupted, “Control your anger, we got a job to do.” Jóżef headed out of the building, texting their man in the police department to investigate a lead.

Felicia glared down at the officer before she left the evidence on the ground next to him with a note written, signed by her pseudonym. She followed after Peter and Jóżef now, she had a personal vendetta against these cultists because they were a threat to her home. Felicia pulled out her grappling gun, zipping through the borough of Queens with Peter, wondering how guys like Peter and Jóżef were out of her dating range. All the good guys were taken at Empire State University.

As they arrived at Flushing they were met with a string of old Quaker meeting places, but it was obvious the officer had been talking about the historical meeting place, 137-16 Northern Boulevard.

It was around three in the morning when they walked in, the meeting house was full of guards, specifically five were walking around with rifles in hand and seaxes at their sides. Peter made his way onto the ceiling, Felicia was making her way along the walls by using her grappling guns, and  Jóżef was making his way around the meeting house pews. They were all using their powers to remain undetected, Jóżef reminded himself to make a suit for Felicia as a thank you, hoping that whatever he ended up making would be of a greater asset to her endeavours, especially since she was going to help them take care of the cult in Queens.

Peter looked at Jóżef before he fired a short web at the pew furthest from his partner, making all of the guards look to the source of the noise, some of them approached it believing it to be either an intruder, a rat, or some other sort of animal. As three of them left Jóżef approached one of them from behind.

Jóżef gave Peter a count of three signal, and on three Peter descended, wrapping a web around the mouth of his target and pulling him up to the ceiling quickly. Peter webbed the man to the ceiling. Jóżef had simply knocked out his target and hid him behind a pew. Jóżef then headed over to the other three, watching as Peter positioned himself above one target and Felicia positioned herself above another.

On the count of three they all took out their respective targets, Felicia had dropped down with a flip in the air, her feet landing on the man and she used enough force to make him knock out upon hitting the floor. Peter was webbing up his target and covering their mouth with the webs. He webbed them to the floor and Jóżef was setting his target on the ground gently to make sure their unconscious body did not make much sound.

“There were go five unconscious cultists. Now we just gotta get the other twenty under the ground.” Jóżef went around the meetinghouse, looking for any of the hidden entrances. Felicia joined Jóżef in the hunt for hidden doors.

“I can’t believe there are hidden tunnels like this all over New York,” Felicia said calmly as she eventually pressed a button which made a sliding hatch open at the centre of the floor. Peter gave Felicia a thumbs up of approval, proud of her discovery. As Peter webbed up the guards who were unconscious Jóżef and Felicia headed down into the chamber. “So. . . How did you and Spidey meet?” She asked, continuing down the stairs.

“A fight with a villain brought us together. . . Let me guess you’re a fangirl?” Jóżef smirked just a little behind his mask, pulling out his bow as they got deeper into the hidden spiralling stairwell.

“Maybe I am. Just can’t believe I’m working with you guys, Spidey’s an Avenger.” Felicia had the ability to use the eyes of a cat when she needed them, giving her night vision. Jóżef was still stumbling every so often even with his night vision glasses on. 

“Don’t think that people like us are out of your league, Felicia, hell, we might just start our own little team with you in it, we always need help with taking down big villain groups like this. And you can always send us a message on our Twitter profile.” Jóżef felt the rim of the door and removed his glasses, the sight of torches in the distance visible.

“I’ll keep that in mind, let’s get some info on the cultists.” She said calmly, using her grappling gun to get to the ceiling and make her way along the ceiling of the medium sized temple. This clearly was not the Father’s temple, it would be somewhere else, this made Jóżef ponder on other places that might have hidden places like this one in Queens.

Jóżef hid himself off in a corner, listening to the person who was leading the service tonight, making sure he recorded the event. “Brothers and Sisters of the temple, we are here today to initiate a new brother into our faith. Brother Ryan hopes to join us and be a leading force at his college; We are here to see if he will accept the wisdom of our Lord Loki and his family and follow the path to truth through sacrifice. With Brother Ryan’s commitment, we are one step closer to bringing peace to the globe once more. Brother Ryan. come forth and show your devotion.”

A man stepped forward, not wearing a mask, Jóżef noticed that the person at the front held a mask in their hand, likely as a way to reward ‘Ryan,’ for his devotion to the cult. He looked up and noticed the fire in Felicia’s eyes, that did not bode well but he sighed in relief as Peter came down the stairs and snuck his way next to Jóżef. 

“Are you ready?” Peter asked in a whisper, watching as they brought out a woman with blond hair with pink highlights and a set of pretty blue eyes.

“Not yet, we’ve almost got enough evidence to put them all to jail tonight,” Jóżef whispered back, keeping his comm activated so Felicia would know to hold her horses.

Soon, Ryan had looked over to the priest, who was likely Acharya. “I, Brother A., welcome you to our faith by putting this knife in your hands. You understand that by joining us with the taking of this knife and sacrificing of this impure woman, you join a network of the brightest in New York, who will change things for the good?”

I understand, sir.” Said Ryan. Ryan had freckles and a set of piercing green eyes, which he intimidated the woman on the altar with. He had particularly red hair, a nice shade of orange. He looked like your normal college going fraternity member, as if he were the next ‘captain of industry,’ as harmless as a fly to a human. “I will say my prayer. Á Loki, dóttir, at ginnheilagr móðir.” When Ryan finished speaking and began lifting his knife Felicia jumped down onto him.

The sound Ryan made was not one of simple pain, it was a loud high pitched cry of pain, Felicia removed her claws from his back the shiny blades covered in blood. 

“Fu-” Jóżef muttered as he and Peter sprung into action, the two of them fighting cultists while Karen flew around with five of the drones, attacking cultists with taser weapons. While the two heroes were busy fighting the cultists Acharya made his way out of the temple through another tunnel that led out of the temple. Jozef had seen him running off but he was being swarmed by five cultists.

Peter had to rescue him from being stabbed with a small knife and the two of them were back to back, protecting one another from nearing cultists. While Jóżef and Peter fought with their attackers Felicia was busy putting an end to Ryan’s life. She dropped his body on the floor, his face mangled from the claws. Felicia used a nonlethal approach with the other cultists, using her acrobatic skills to take out a few of them at a time.

As the air came to a stand-still Jóżef looked down at Felicia. “Why the hell did you kill that guy Felicia?” Jóżef was forcing himself to maintain calm, even though he was angered. No doubt the Jameson would run with this story with some headline along the line of  _ Red Umbra, Spider-Man, and Black Cat  _ _ murder _ _ innocent college man! _ And he would omit all the relevant information.

“‘Guy,’ Ulrikh? I didn’t murder a fucking guy, I didn’t even murder a man. I murdered a damn rapist at ESU, that bastard over there assaulted me, that’s what I did! I killed a rapist!” Felicia seemed to stiffen up, she just realized that the woman on the altar would know her identity. She turned around, looking her in the eyes. “I’m not sorry for what I did, Gwen.” Felicia walked over to the woman on the altar and cut her binds free, helping her sit up.

“Felicia?” She asked, reaching up and removing Felicia’s homemade goggles. “Baby. . . I’m not mad, just surprised.” Gwen suddenly pulled Felicia into a hug, and Felicia embraced her in return, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as a single tear fell from her eye.

Jóżef immediately softened up, his brown eyes going gentle, “Felicia. . . I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. . . just don’t question my motives again. I did what I did for a reason.” Felicia wiped her eyes of tears and eventually, she lifted Gwen. “Let me take you back to our dorm,” Felicia said quietly. “I’ll see you two later, we’ll handle the cult tomorrow, just let me rest a bit. I almost lost her.”

Peter and Jóżef gave sympathetic nods and Peter spoke before they left. “Stay safe and contact us as soon as you can.” Peter grabbed Jóżef’s hand, lacing their fingers together tightly, trembling very slightly.

 

_ They had arrived back home at around four thirty in the morning _ , Peter was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, what a way to start your Tuesday. Peter picked Jóżef up and pressed the buttons on both of their suits, checking his phone as he set them both in bed while getting out his pyjamas, “We. . . didn’t make a mistake right?” Peter asked, scrolling through their twitter page.

“No-no-no. We didn’t. We made the right call, even if it resulted in a death. Trust the choice you made Peter because it was a wise one, no one except for those Cultists did anything wrong.” 

Peter nodded as he handed Jóżef his pyjamas, putting his own sweats on. “Just got a notification on Twitter, ‘ @GStacy2K ,’ and ‘ @MissBlackCat ,’ followed us. . . Felicia sent us a message on that account. She said thanks for helping her tonight. God. I need to sleep.” Peter set his phone on the counter and lied back in bed, looking up at the ceiling before Jóżef hugged him tightly, making Peter wrap an arm around him. “I hope I did the right thing. . . I love you, Joey. good night.”

Jóżef gave Peter a gentle kiss on the cheek, “You did make the right choice. teraz, dobranoc, kochanie.” Jóżef said the last part sleepily as he covered his eyes, falling asleep to the sound of cars driving on the street.

 

_ Chapter III. The Case of a Corrupt Nightingale. _

As Peter woke up he found himself alone in bed, his hair beyond messy. “What the-?” He reached up, pulling a sticky note which had been put on his forehead off. Peter read it over and followed the instructions to check his audio recordings. He put his earphones in, listening to Jóżef’s voice.  _ “Hey, baby. I woke up early and decided to do some work down at the workshop. I’ll see you later today or whenever you come by. K? Bye, doll.” _ Peter smiled as he got out of bed then went to take a shower, recounting what Felicia had said about the note last night, ‘N,’ had written that he would handle the case himself, which gave Peter the clue that ‘N’ was also involved with the legal system in some way like Martin. But handling a case could have meant anything from disposing evidence as an officer to debating as a prosecutor, or even sentencing as a judge.

When Peter finished his shower he went to the mirror with a towel around his waist, looking at his reflection while fixing up his hair for the day. His phone suddenly beeping, alerting him of a new message on Twitter. Peter washed his hands and dried them when his hair was fixed, he grabbed a toothbrush and paste to go with it. Peter began brushing his teeth while looking through his Twitter feed, a message from Felicia’s Black Cat account was there.

_ Hey, Spidey. When are we meeting up about the cult? _

_ Hey! Um. how about right now? I got time to kill. _ Peter wrote back, putting his toothbrush under the faucet, cleaning it as he kept looking at his phone, waiting for a response.

_ Sure, where you wanna meet? _

Peter decided it would be fun to meet up with Jóżef after a talk with Black Cat, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He typed back to Felicia.  _ Let’s meet at Whitehall, I gotta meet Jóżef soon so we’ll meet at the terminal, get some coffee and wait for the next ferry. Sound good? _ Peter put his toothbrush away and made sure his face was clean before he exited the bathroom. Peter sat on the bed, looking through his underwear drawer to find clothes to wear for the day. 

_ 👍 sounds good! _

_ I’ll meet you in like an hour!  _ With that Peter set his cell phone down and pulled his underwear on under his towel, standing up and looking for his shirt of choice.

 

_ Peter was not late, he made it there in exactly an hour _ , he was unusually lucky today, the train ran on time and got to his destination early. Peter sat in a chair. He was wearing a pair of black jeans with tennis shoes, a white fruit of the loom muscle t-shirt, a teal button-up shirt which was unbuttoned, and a set of shades. There was no reason to give away his entire identity. Peter had bought both him and Felicia cups of coffee and he had gotten Felicia all the cream and sugar she could have needed. Peter leaned back in his chair, looking out at the coast while he waited. He eventually texted Felicia where he was sitting, a few moments later, as the warm sea breeze ran through Peter’s brown locks, Felicia took a seat. “Oh, hello  _ Felicia _ ,” He hoped she appreciated his reference.

Felicia crossed her legs under the table, wearing a pair of black and white Vans. Felicia had on a pair of her father’s vintage denim jeans, they always felt comfortable to her, finally, she had on a black t-shirt with a zip-up hoodie like jacket. Her hair was raven black as opposed to last night when it was white as polished bone. “Please let that meme die.” She said before she grabbed the coffee Peter had put at her end of the table, “Thanks.” Felicia emptied two of the sugar packets into her coffee and one of the creamers, stirring it with the wooden stick Peter had gotten for her. “Now about this cult,” She whispered, leaning in.

Peter leaned forward, making his chair sit properly on the ground, he got closer to Felicia, their faces only a half foot apart now. “Yeah, about that. I’ve been thinking about the notes and its obvious they’re all over Queens in the legal system, so until we’ve got them all you contact this cop, he’s the only good one we know for this case.” Peter handed her Officer John Laney’s contact card. “Say you’re a friend of Spider-Man and that you’ve found more of the cultists and he’ll help you take them in, might even give you a riot squad.” Peter took a sip from his coffee, looking into Felicia’s green eyes. “So, I’m guessing the white was a wig and the blue eyes were your goggles.”

“Exactly, you’re a clever little spider.” She replied with a soft chuckle, “Where’s Ulrikh?” She asked, taking another drink from her coffee.

“He’s in his workshop on Staten Island,” Peter’s phone began ringing and he pulled it out to check the caller ID. “Speaking of which.”

Felicia gave a nod and she turned away to look at all the people who were waiting for the ferry with them, commuters who wanted to get to their jobs on time on this fine tenth hour of the day. Felicia spotted a woman who seemed to be observing her, she had a set of brown eyes and slightly curly black hair. Felicia met her gaze, forcing her to look away after a moment. When the eye contact was over Felicia looked over to Peter who had just finished his phone call, “So what’s the buzz?” She asked.

“Joey wants you to come to the workshop, apparently there’s something he wants you to see.” Peter took another sip from his coffee, rattling the cup in hopes that he would get that last drop of delicious eye-opening caffeine. He drank the rest of it after letting out a grunt. “I gotta get bigger cups because these things aren’t doing it. Shoulda made my Folgers at home.” Peter stood up, “Ready to get going?” Peter asked the ferry would be ready to go soon enough.

Felicia nodded as she stood up, it would be a peaceful thirty minute trip to Staten Island, then a peaceful trip by cab to the workshop. Peter looked at Felicia calmly as they made their way to the Workshop, removing his shades. “So what do you study at ESU?” He asked, sitting comfortably on his side of the cab looking out the window briefly to see where they were at this point in the trip. They were not too far away from the Workshop now, he could not wait to see his boyfriend. Jóżef truly was the light of his life, besides Stark and May. 

But Jóżef was different, Jóżef had an intellect to match Tony’s along with the degrees to back it up; Jóżef was also amazingly affectionate, and Peter had always craved the affections his partner provided, likely due to the early passing of his parents, Jóżef made him feel protected in his sleep, only May hitherto had been able to do such a thing; And his partner was an excellent person for sparring practice, Jóżef had been trained in Kamar-Taj when he was saved by the self-inflicted homelessness he undertook after gaining his powers, he had also been taught a few moves by his Marine father, who was responsible for Jóżef even being able to shoot a rifle or wield a bow properly, the combination of Western fighting technique with Eastern practice made for an interesting method of fighting.

Felicia looked at Peter once their gaze met one another, she spoke softly, “I’m doing Entrepreneurial Studies and Statistics. Gwen is studying Chemistry and economics if that was your next question. And since you’re going to ask me what business I want to start up I’ll tell you now: a sustainable transportation business, someday every bus in New York is going green, and it’ll be all thanks to me.” Felicia had been raised from a young age by both her father and her school to love the environment, and though she wished to change the entire system that caused the climate issues of today by its own inner workings, she had to work within the constraints of today, and she resorted to a business she could use in hopes of affecting the whole city. She already had the money she needed to start up the business and could take more from the bigwigs when she needed without getting caught, but she needed the knowledge of managing a business to start up her company without failing. Gwen, on the other hand, wanted to be a Chemist, Green Chemist, and have a background in Economics. Felicia looked out the window soon, she had never been to Staten Island before, she never had a reason to come here. “It's so remote, I see why you guys chose this place.” Felicia looked back at Peter and gave a gentle smile, sitting comfortably in the taxi.

Peter gave her a nod of understanding as he ran a hand through his own hair. “I didn’t have enough money to go to college, but I got an acceptance letter to MIT earlier and I’ll be heading there. I don’t know what kind of deal Joey made with the devil but whatever he did it worked.” And what a deal it was, when the Peter went to Cambridge when Fall Semester started he would be going away from his life as an Avenger for a while unless it was a situation of imminent danger and Tony personally called him; He would be leaving May for four years (save for vacations MIT allowed such as winter break) and he would be with Jóżef in Massachusetts; Not only that, Jóżef was apparently going to be  _ teaching _ there as well which was increasingly interesting. Peter knew that Jóżef had multiple doctorates  _ from _ MIT itself and Peter was interested in knowing what ‘Professor Ross’ would be teaching, he might get an introductory engineering class with his partner and the thought of that was exciting, he would get to see what Jóżef as a professor was like.

Felicia nodded, “Be good to that guy. If he’s anything like Gwen he’ll be there for you no matter what.” When the situation with Ryan occurred Gwen was the one who found Felicia and made sure she got cleaned and went to the doctor, and after that Gwen never left Felicia’s side, making sure she was always safe and comfortable when she went out on campus. Gwendolyn was her rock, and Felicia was a ship carefully anchored while repairs were being done.

As the taxi stopped Peter paid for the fair and left a tip for the driver, it was not as high as last time. Peter led Felicia into the workshop, looking around for the hidden panel which showed the lab. Peter walked to the wall, pressing it.

Jóżef was revealed, footage of the fight from last night playing as he worked on some sort of all black outfit. “Hey, babe!” He called out, looking up from his work, “good, you brought Felicia, I’ve got something to show both of you.” Jóżef pressed a few buttons on the screen, rewinding to a specific moment in the footage.

“What is it?” Peter asked as he and Felicia approached the screen where Jóżef was working.

“This is an. . . impressive set-up.” Felicia said as she folded her arms, pulling the note from yesterday out of her pocket, “Pete, take this, by the way, I don’t want to go into a police precinct for any reason.” She stuffed the note into Peter’s pocket.

Jóżef sat back in his chair. “I found our next lead. A woman in the Queens Presbyterian hospital who signed the order for that little prescription bottle you see on the altar right there. It's a sedative, and I’m sure Acharya isn’t an insomniac since Gwen was drugged. I think you two should follow up on the lead and try to see if this Olivia Varner is apart of the cult.”

“What are you gonna do?” Peter asked, folding his arms as he looked down at Jóżef who had the black outfit on his work desk still. Clearly, his partner was up to something but he was not sure what it was.

“Well, Felicia can’t just run around in whatever she finds in her dorm can she? She needs a suit like us, a super suit she can put on and use in a fight, not a black hoodie.” Jóżef replied simply as he sat back, looking at his diagrams before he continued working on the suit.

“I hope it’s good,” Felicia joked before she exited the lab, the idea of having a ‘professional,’ suit had her admittedly excited, curious to see what Jóżef would come up with. “Come on, Peter, let’s go check out this Varner, I’ve got a hunch she’s doing things other than prescribing good medication to people.” Felicia headed out of the Workshop, waiting for Peter outside.

Peter looked down at Jóżef, “Good luck on that thing.” Peter muttered, blowing Jóżef a kiss before he left. He could not believe Jóżef was staying at the lab to work instead of investigating with them, but if Felicia was going to fight the cult full out with them she would need better protection, at least Jóżef had her well being in mind.

 

_ When they arrived in Queens  _ Peter took Felicia to a well-hidden area, putting on his super suit. “Swinging there will be faster, get on my back and we’ll get over there, then we’ll go through the front door and try to do an investigation, we’ll sneak around if we need it.” Peter leaned down a bit and as Felicia got on Peter’s back he swung them over to the hospital, it was apparently one of the best hospitals in Queens. Peter landed on the roof of the building, taking his suit off. He carried Felicia down to the back entrance of the hospital and the two of them walked to the front.

The entered with the rest of the guests, avoiding eye contact and sneaking past the security-check in desk by hiding in plain sight. “Okay, let's get to the pharmacy.” Peter walked around the hospital with Felicia staying close to him, he looked around, finding the door with big red letters that said ‘Pharmacy.’ Peter walked through the door, heading directly to the desk, noticing the woman’s name tag.  _ Olivia _ , “Ma’am, could you tell me where the restroom is?” once Olivia told Peter where the restroom was he thanked her, going to the bathroom immediately.

When Peter came into the bathroom he closed and locked the door behind him. He pulled out his phone, texting Felicia on Twitter,  _ Distract Varner I’m doing a bit of investigative work behind the office. _ Peter pressed the button on his watch, allowing the black, red, and gold suit to form over his body. Peter unlocked the bathroom door then opened it to make it seem as if he had finished, he climbed onto the wall and entered the vents, crawling through just before someone else came into the bathroom. Peter crawled through the vents, looking through every vent opening that was pressed against his chest, he went around until he came to the back of the pharmacy desk and silently jumped down in camouflage mode. Peter crouched down when he closed the vent door and he made his way to the personal desk Varner sat at hidden to the customers. 

Peter opened the drawers and found nothing but a set of transactions from today and yesterday which she had copied. Peter narrowed his eyes in frustration before he felt around the underside of the desk, his fingers touching something metallic. Peter looked under the desk and found a key taped to the underside. Peter took the tape off the key and put it in the hidden slot of his utility belt so it would not look like a key was floating around the pharmacy. Peter snuck up behind Varner, picking her pocket and pulling away before he could be found out. He hid behind one of the cabinets and sighed in relief, looking at the note. “Karen, send pictures of this note to Jóżef.” Peter began reading over it himself,  wondering when they foolish cultists would get better security for their ‘secrets.’ Peter read it out in his mind:

_ Sister V., I am told you successfully made sure our ‘witness.,’ won’t recover from his accident. I remain ever impressed with your skills as a nightingale. For your loyalty to our Lord, I’ll see to it that when this menace of a Spider is taken care of we shall go after his partner and that kitty too. When all of our enemies are taken care of I shall pull all strings that I must in the legal field to ensure that you replace Levin as Chief Nursing Officer, simply continue to administer the poison as you have been and we shall guide New York into a new era with the aid of the Spirit, all of my adoration for your impressive work - Father N. _

Peter felt a shadow cast over him and he went wide-eyed, in the middle of mentally cursing he felt a firm hand get placed on his neck, making him gasp from surprise. He looked up and saw a woman in a nursing outfit standing over him with a mask of Loki on, the eyes were glowing with a sort of blue fire. “Well that’s new,” Peter quipped before the woman gave him a slap to the face, swiftly tying a gag around his mouth.

“Be silent so I may get my promotion.” She said, pulling out a syringe.

“Why are you doing this Varner?” Peter asked in his muffled voice, feeling her grip around his neck tighten. He made sure that all the footage was being recorded by Karen who was not only in his suit but also crawling away from the scene as the spider-drone, trying to get Felicia’s attention.

“Never say my name again, in fact, I’ll be glad to put you to sleep and serve you to the Saviour on the grand altar.” She made sure the needle was ready and before Peter could fight back she lifted part of his mask and put the syringe in his neck, pressing down on the plunger and watching as the liquid went into Peter’s neck, “Rest easy you pest. When you wake, you’ll have your entrails laid bare to our Lord.”

Peter felt his eyelids getting heavy, he tried to speak despite being muffled, he could tell his speech was slurring. Peter closed his eyes briefly before opening them once more. He heard a harsh gagging noise which made him snap awake once more, looking up at Felicia who was holding Varner down and knocking her out with her thighs.

Peter yawned behind his gag before he gave a thumbs up and closed his eyes. “Spidey, what did she give you?” Felicia asked, trying to wake Peter up, “A.I.-bot-thingy, can you tell me what’s in the syringe?” Felicia gave a sigh of relief when she was told it was just a sedative. Felicia put on a pair of gloves and removed the woman’s mask, hiding it in a bag along with the note after taking pictures of said note, which she would have to carry out, along with Peter and Varner. 

It was going to be difficult for her to escape. She picked up Peter and dragged Varner, discussing escape routes with Karen, eventually, Karen told her that the  _ safest _ route that would not get them caught was out the window in a closet. Felicia made her way out with the bag strapped to her waist. She closed the closet door behind her and took a hold of Varner, calling Officer Laney, “Hey, Officer Laney? My name is Black Cat, I’m working with Spider-Man. Get to the Queens Presbyterian hospital  _ now _ , I found a cultist posing as a nurse and I’m not sure how long she’ll be out for. Okay. thank you, Officer Laney.”

Felicia sat back against the closet door and made sure no one came in, that was before she heard a knock at the door.  _ Fu- _ she looked out of the key-hole and saw Gwen standing there. “Is someone in there?” She asked. Gwen was wearing a professional set of attire, of all the days for Felicia’s girlfriend to be on the job why today?

Felicia opened the door only slightly so Gwen could see her face, Gwen immediately panicked. “Shh shh shh, it’s just me.” Felicia sighed in relief as Gwen calmed down from the realization. 

“What are you doing here?” Gwen asked as she folded her arms, crouching down to look into Felicia’s eyes.

“Look, I’m doing hero business right now, kinda stopping those people who tried to kill you last night, babe. So please, I love you but I gotta get back to work. Wait, hold on a mo.” Felicia closed the door then pulled Peter’s suit pants down slightly, pulling the note out and adding it to the bag of evidence. She went back to the door and resumed talking with her girlfriend after Peter’s suit was back on properly. “Okay, well, anyways: Some tramp named Varner was killing people with poison and making people overdose, I’d call for an investigation into her while I bring her to the cop when he gets here. Please, just trust me, babe. I’ll see you back at the dorm.”

“I love you,” Gwen said before the door closed, she knew she had to just trust Felicia on this one, especially after what happened last night, and if Felicia was wrong there would be virtually no consequences since Black Cat did this, not Felicia Hardy.

Felicia checked her phone and saw that Laney was calling her, she answered the phone. “You’re outside?” She asked, and when Laney said that he was in fact outside Felicia picked up Varner and shot one of her grappling guns onto the building, descending herself down to the ground. “Hey, officer,” Felicia said as she held out the bag to the officer along with the nurse. There was no room for conversation between Felicia and the cops so she ascended back to the closet, waiting for Laney to leave before she picked up the Spider-Man and took him back to Jóżef.

 

_ When they arrived at Staten Island it was around one in the afternoon _ . Jóżef was sitting at his desk when Felicia came in with a Peter who was barely waking up but still heavily drowsy. “Hey, Ulrikh. We got Varner to the cops, she was making people overdose. Also, she drugged the hell out of Peter here, put the guy down for a nap. . .” Felicia set Peter down in a chair.

“Is Peter okay?!” Jóżef snapped, rushing over and taking a hold of Peter in his arms, opening his partner’s eyes and making Peter whine in protest.

_ “Nie, tato. . .  _ _ zatrzymać,” _ Peter slurred out, his response to  Jóżef’s hand was much slower than usual but he did eventually move Jóżef’s hands away. He closed his eyes, yawning.

“Yeah, he’s just. . .”  _ High off his ass _ , was the first thing that came to mind, but Felicia opted for the more appropriate phrase, “He just needs a nap, it was a sedative.” She heard Jóżef release an audible sigh of relief. “So, the note was talking about that N guy pulling legal strings to make her the Chief Nursing Officer once the three of us were gotten rid of. Laney took care of her though. I’ll send you a picture of the note on Twitter.”

Jóżef nodded and hugged Peter, rubbing his head gently and holding him tightly for a moment, “Alright. Thanks for getting Peter home safe to me Felicia. Before you go, I finished your suit, come back to me if you need it properly refitted, I want to make sure you’re comfortable in it.” Jóżef stood and went to his desk, grabbing the folded outfit with a box on top of it. “I made you a new set of grappling guns for you too, I think you’ll like them.”

“Thanks, Ulrikh. I appreciate it.” Felicia gave Jóżef a tight hug before she took the clothing, “I’ll see you around, make sure you kiss him goodnight for me!” After that, Felicia left the Workshop, heading back to her dorm. Thank God she did not have classes today.

Jóżef picked up Peter with a soft smile, kissing Peter’s cheek gently. “My baby’s on laughing gas.” Jóżef joked, pressing another panel to open up the bedroom chamber, setting Peter down on the bed and tucking him into the bed. Jóżef was so happy that Peter was only on benzo rather than something more serious. Jóżef rubbed Peter’s hair gently and gave him a loving kiss on the forehead. “Karen, put the footage from today on the computer in the lab so I can review it.”

Jóżef stood up from the bed after he got Peter into his underwear and put his watch on the floor next to the full sized mattress. Jóżef headed back to the computer and sat down with his feet up. He was looking through the footage calmly, checking for anything of note besides Varner basically admitting that she was  a cultist when she told Peter to ‘never say her name again,’ that was when he realized that she had a temple of her own. She had to have a temple because she was referred to specifically as ‘Sister V.,’ every person with only an initial was in charge of a temple as opposed to ‘Brother Ryan,’ who was being initiated. “Karen, you ready to go hunting for a few cultists in Queens?” Jóżef asked, and when Karen gave him an affirmative answer he grinned, standing.

Jóżef sent the criminalizing footage to Laney, heading out of the Workshop. “Sleep tight,  mój  księżyczku,”  Jóżef left his Workshop, locking up so Peter could rest easily. “Karen, give me a route to Varner’s house.”

 

_ Jóżef sat on top of the building which overlooked Varner’s house _ , Jóżef jumped down easily and walked over to Varner’s house, it was a two-story home and by the readings he was getting, it was entirely empty. Jóżef climbed through the window and headed inside, looking around at the silent house.

It was full of all sorts of antiques, grandfather clocks, Russian doll sets, cat vases. It looked like any normal home. Jóżef ran his fingers along the wall of the house carefully, searching for any secret panels. Jóżef pulled a little chameleon shaped droid out of his suit’s hidden compartment. He took a knee and placed it on the ground. “Ready to try out some new tech, Karen?” Jóżef asked as he watched the little Chameleon drone come to life and start crawling around. “I guess that’s a yes. Try and see if there’s any secret compartments on the perimeter of the house, there might be a cellar door or a basement somewhere.” Jóżef watched as Karen scurried off and he kept feeling around the walls, trying to find a hidden door.

Jóżef sighed softly as he found not a door to the basement nor a panel in the wall on the first floor. He headed up to the second floor, looking for any possible clues. He went into the vases, looking for any extra information, where he eventually found another note. “She’s a bit smarter than the rest I’ll give her that.” Jóżef began reading the note. 

_ My Sister, V., thank you for the medication recommendation, you’re truly an intelligent woman, that snitch never saw his death at a homeless shelter coming. . . then again neither did the ambassador, and no one tracked it back to me. Here’s to your recent promotion and ever-expanding knowledge guided by Loki’s light, may he guide you in your study and practice. -Brother B. _

Jóżef put the note away after he took several pictures of it, then he heard Karen in his ear, telling him there was a basement entrance behind the house. Jóżef headed down from the second floor and exited through the back. He made sure that his fingerless gloves had fingers on them this time to prevent his fingerprints from showing up. He knew Laney would be coming to this house soon enough for further investigation.

Jóżef went to the basement door and opened it, going inside slowly. He made sure his night vision goggles were on as he descended into the belly of the beast, finding a small temple with an altar. The altar had a less than week old child’s body on it and Jóżef sighed, he was too late. Jóżef called in Laney, wiping a tear from his eyes. “Those bastards. . . cutting up children. This is way out of hand. Karen, is Peter awake yet? And have there been any updates on Acharya?”

Jóżef sighed in defeat when Karen gave him a negative to both of those. “Alright, looks like it's just you, me and the Cat. Run a cross-reference for all the people with a last name that begins with the letter B that work as cooks in homeless shelters. Dang, Karen, that’s a lot of people. Cross-reference those names with associations of an ambassador dying, likely of food poisoning or in a restaurant, or anything.” Jóżef sighed in relief after that. “Alright, that narrows it down to Long Island City, I guess we’ll check all the shelters, call Black Cat for me.”

Jóżef began heading towards the basement door, as he exited the basement and closed Felicia answered the phone. “Hey, Felicia, wanna take that new suit for a spin? I got another lead in Long Island City. . . yeah, we can meet up there, I’ll be in a green shirt, blue jeans, shades, and my cap. I’ll see you there.”

 

_ Chapter IV. Elf on a Shelf, Rat in a Hat, The Cook is a Crook _

Jóżef was sitting at a café reading a small copy of Wilde’s  _ The Picture of Dorian Gray _ , waiting for Felicia to finally arrive. He sipped at his coffee, as he read, turning through each page slowly. It had been quite a long time since he was able to actually  _ enjoy _ a book rather than read one for work or for class. The last time he had done reading for the pleasure of it, he was at Kamar-Taj with a copy of Augustine’s  _ City of God _ , his mother had told him it was an important book when he was younger and now that he had time outside of his normal practice he dedicated himself to reading the entirety of the volume.

When Felicia arrived Jóżef looked up at her. “Good to see you again, hope the trip over here wasn’t too long.” Jóżef had been here for a while, waiting for Felicia for about twenty-five minutes. 

Felicia gave an eye roll, “Traffic was an absolute pain in my ass.” She said calmly, placing her hands on the chair. “Are you ready to get going?”

Jóżef stood up easily, putting the book in his jacket pocket. “Of course I’m ready. Let’s get going. I’m sure our target is trying to poison someone else right now.” Jóżef zipped up his coat as he headed off down the street with the cup of coffee in his hands. “So, What do you take at ESU?” He asked calmly.

“Entrepreneurial Studies and Statistics.” Felicia replied simply as she stayed close to Jóżef, looking around at the area which was a cross between beautiful architecture and a new wave of high-end condos. She listened to Jóżef’s response.

Jóżef hummed softly in response, “That’s pretty cool!” Jóżef leaned down and whispered. “I’m guessing you’re using the cash from your robberies to finance it?”

“You know about those?” Felicia asked as she kept walking, unaltered by the words, only slightly surprised. She cracked her knuckles from an odd, slightly painful feeling in her fingers.

“Yeah, and I think what you’re doing is good, just be careful about it, you might get caught someday and I don’t want that to happen to someone with your skills and dedication.”

Felicia chuckled under her breath, “Stop with the flattery. We’ve got a job to do.” Felicia said softly, a bit happy that Jóżef clearly thought so highly of her. “Peter told me you went to MIT, how was that?”

“Oh, it wasn’t too bad. If it hadn’t been for MIT I wouldn’t be able to make half these little gizmos. I’m guessing Peter told you about college then?” When Felicia bave him a nod in reply Jóżef continued. “It sucks because NYC is gonna be without us for a while. And I’m not too sure the Avengers are gonna look after this place since they have ‘better things to do.’ I hope someone comes up to take our place.”

“Someone like me?” Felicia asked as she got closer to the homeless shelter that the two were looking for, the cook that they knew about was Thomas Beaumont. Beaumont was the owner of a high-class restaurant in New York City, he lived in Queens, he was always volunteering at the local homeless shelter and helping prepare the food.

Beaumont had a string of investigative journalists tailing him around, including Ned Leeds. Ned had taken a job up at the Bugle in an effort to try and change up the view of Spider-Man in the Bugle, by any means necessary. Beaumont however, was his current target. Too many people had died only a few hours after eating his food, and some people at the shelter had the same outcome. There was no evidence to indicate that Beaumont was involved since they all died in various ways and the autopsy reports never indicated the food being involved in some way. Beaumont would be the hottest case to report on if evidence could be found, and Jóżef knew that if he found proof of poisoning and or anything that could possibly indicate Thomas attempting to murder someone, Ned would get a promotion and be able to spread around Pro-Spider-Man articles with greater freedom.

Jóżef walked into the shelter and whispered to Felicia. “Beaumont won’t be here until around three, let’s try to stay incognito.” Jóżef went to the nearest seat, looking at the floor. He pulled a picture of Thomas Beaumont up on his phone and sat with Felicia, showing her their target. He watched as Karen scurried off of his arm through the chameleon drone and stayed hidden. Jóżef put on a pair of glasses, smiling at Felicia. “How do I look?” He asked.

Felicia chuckled, going on her phone after she spoke, “You look like an old man. . . definitely don’t look like Ulrikh.” Felicia looked down at her phone, scrolling through the information Google could find her on Thomas Beaumont.

“Hey!” Jóżef furrowed his brows looking over at the entrance inside of the building which led to the main room where most of the people where. They were talking about various things and Jóżef could not tune out of the thousand other conversations that were occurring around him and his hopes of eavesdropping were put to depression. “I only just turned twenty-one. I’m not old.”

“Correction, you’re not  _ that _ old.” Felicia smirked, “Why do you have those on anyway, sure they make you look a  _ little _ different, but not that much.” Felicia crossed one leg over the other, tilting Jóżef’s head to the side so their eyes could meet, Jóżef’s golden brown hues still looked bright behind the thick glass lenses. 

Jóżef rolled his eyes at Felicia, “They’re sending Karen’s live footage from the Chameleon-Cam. She’s investigating the kitchen for us.” Jóżef sat back in his seat again, getting comfortable as he watched the footage. Jóżef was watching Karen investigate and eventually Karen crawled to a cabinet which had a collection of spices inside of it. Karen crawled into the cabinet, camouflaged like any chameleon. She crawled into the space, and activated night vision mode as the cabinet door closed.

Karen looked through the cabinet, crawling around inside of it before she found a small hatch in the cabinet. She knew there had to be extra space in the cabinet based on the proportions outside compared to those inside, surely it was not wood that took up half the space simply for some sort of æsthetic. As the wood was slid back as some sort of Japanese door   found an entire rack of sedatives, poisons, hypnotics, opiates, a vial of something which was not labelled, a few jars of snake venom, and other such things. Karen took several pictures by blinking then closed the door one more. She escaped from the cabinet and made her way back to Jóżef, crawling onto his leg then into his pocket.

“Good work, Karen ” Jóżef said, reaching into his pocket to rub the head of the little drone gently. “This is important evidence. I wonder where he’s keeping the mask.”

“Probably on himself,” Felicia said as she watched someone enter the room. They were wearing a professional outfit, a suit with a tie, a camera on their neck. They were on the chunkier side with a nice, dark shade of skin and dark hair. Jóżef stood up suddenly and made his way over to the person, tapping their shoulder. Felicia watched as Jóżef and the other person talked for a while, after that Jóżef took the other person back to their seats, sitting next to Felicia again. “Um. . . hi?” Felicia said, looking perplexed as to why Jóżef had brought this person back to the seats.

“Felicia, this is my friend Ned, they work at the Daily Bugle. Ned, this is Felicia, she studies at ESU,” Soon, Jóżef was looking seriously at the woman next to him, “Felicia. . . Ned is investigating Beaumont, he’ll be with us today,” It was quite lucky that Ned showed up, they would catch Beaumont in the act, that’s when Jóżef had a genius idea. “Karen, go back to the kitchen and hide somewhere, record  _ everything  _ involving that cabinet.” Jóżef watched as the small chameleon-cam ran out of his pocket and scurried off through the shelter and back to the kitchen.

Jóżef looked down at his watch, “It’s twenty minutes till three. Ned, what articles have you been working on recently.”

Ned looked up from their phone, showing Jóżef the two articles he had finished recently. “I’m doing a three-piece set on crime: The first one is about drug-trafficking in the city, the second one is about the decreasing crime rates around the city, but that there might be a rise of some kind with that Tombstone guy running around now. The last set is about Beaumont and the cult. I’ve got a lot of proof that connects him to the cult but the Bugle isn’t letting me put it up till we’ve got ‘the mask,’ everything that I proved without the mask is just ignored as ‘speculative.’ I hate Jameson, I swear to god, he never bothers the others about their articles. . . thanks for getting rid of Evans and Johnson by the way: They always were a bit too close for comfort, always breathing down my neck and harassing me.”

Jóżef listened to everything Ned said, barely remembering Sam Evans and Jenny Johnson. He was mostly interested in the article about Beaumont. “Tell me what you’ve found about Beaumont.”

Ned nodded, going through his phone and pulling up the virtually completed draft of the article. “Well, he’s met Varner a number of times in secret, I’ve got the pictures to prove it too.” Ned showed Felicia and Peter the pictures of Varner and Beaumont meeting in a number of different places, Varner usually had a rolled up paper bag in her hand as well. “I almost got caught taking these. I also found one of those cryptic notes, but Jameson thinks its false because he’s a jackass. I also have a bit of footage that shows him putting an unmarked bottle of ‘seasoning,’ in the ambassador’s meal a few months ago, but of course, Jameson wants that mask!”

“Can I see the note?” Jóżef asked as he looked into Ned’s eyes. As Ned handed Jóżef the note he read through it carefully. 

_ Brother B., thanks to Sister C. and I, the court proceedings went by swimmingly. You did your job excellently as always. For your dedication, the Spirit wishes to meet you. Consider yourself humbled. - Father O.  _

Jóżef handed the note back to Ned, giving them a gentle sigh. “Yeah. Your boss sucks. Every other note we've found is like that. Seems like all Jameson wants to do is talk shit about Peter.”

Ned gave a gentle sigh, their posture going depressed. “I just need that mask to make him shut up, is Felicia. . . uh. . . like Peter?” Ned asked, looking over at the black haired woman.

Felicia cut in, “That’s the case,” She smirked, “How’d you guess?” She asked, looking at Ned calmly.

“I can tell an enhanced when I see one. Plus you’re hanging out with  _ this  _ tall thing over here who’s talking about work.” Ned smirked back at her, soon crossing their leg and watching as Beaumont walked into the shelter. Ned put on a pair of shades and put the camera behind their back.

Jóżef watched Beaumont pass by them and as Beaumont went into the kitchen Jóżef stood and headed to the bathroom. He came back crouched down to see that Felicia had moved to a different spot and Ned was also gone. He almost sighed, making his way around the shelter carefully to avoid having people bump into him.

Jóżef snuck into the back room, looking at Karen’s footage which showed Beaumont going into the cabinet, pulling out different ingredients for cooking. When no one’s eyes were on him he pulled back the folding door and took out one of the snake venom vials, he added it to a specific bowl of food, lining the bowl with the venom and spreading it around the area of the bowl with a silicone spatula. “ Bon Appétit, traitor.”

Jóżef watched this, noticing how Beaumont swiftly hid the venom then closed the folding door. He left the main door open so no one would pester him, then he continued cooking the main dish. The snake venom was actually a concoction of venom and other drugs which would make the target’s death look like a simple heart attack, he had instructions from Varner before she had been caught telling him what to do. He was leading her temple now inside of his own now, and he wanted to do his job, which was to get rid of the traitor in their order. The person was essentially on the run from both the cult and the police, afraid of talking to either of them.

Jóżef snuck over to Beaumont, taking the bowl when Beaumont was distracted and replacing it with another bowl. Jóżef made sure his gloves were on properly and that his fingerprints would be on the ‘fine china.’ He snuck into the back and called Laney, Laney, of course, came over in a civilian car and clothes as Jóżef requested. It took a half hour for Laney to arrive but Jóżef eventually handed him the bowl, telling him to be careful since not only did it have Beaumont’s fingerprints all over it but it was also full of venom.

Felicia was staying hidden in her new outfit, helping Ned get a few good shots of the poisoned bowl and the hidden cabinet. Felicia remembered there was an office Beaumont had gone into before he went into the kitchen, she investigated the area as well, finding a mask of Loki in the drawer. She snuck her way out of the room and back to the kitchen, showing the mask to Ned.

Felicia adored her new suit, sure it did not have as much Vibranium as Peter’s but it had enough to protect her body along with being made of the same stretchy nanotech material. There was white trim along the black bodysuit and parts of protective armour in the boots, gloves, shoulders and chest made out of Carbonadium, Jóżef had repurposed the Carbonadium arms Octavius used against them in order to give Felicia everything she needed. She had holsters for her grappling guns and said guns were able to connect at the frame in order to be a longer suspension gun. 

Felicia looked at Ned and they told her that knocking out Beaumont would be fine now. Felicia snuck up behind Beaumont and easily knocked him out, dragging his body outside. Felicia looked over at Laney and held up the mask. “Found another one here. We’re going to investigate his house, I’m sure you can handle this from here.” Felicia left Beaumont there and she met up with Jóżef and Ned in the front, wearing her regular attire once more.

Jóżef and Ned were standing around, talking with each other and they smiled at Felicia when she came over. “Ready to get going to Beaumont’s house?” Jóżef asked as he put his hands on his hips and stretched. “Oh, by the way, Ned, give Officer Laney that note once you’re done with your article, he’ll need it.

Ned gave a nod, “Sure thing, thanks to Felicia I’ve got all the pictures I need to finally get published. I’d like to see Jameson turn down an article which has Beaumont wearing a cult mask with his signature coat, hat, and a damn name tag on.”

Jóżef smiled down at Ned, “Okay, let's get going.” He said, heading down the street now. He was excited to put more cultists away. He spoke to Laney on the phone, “I need a small group of unmarked officers to help me with the raid, me and Black Cat will take care of most of them, make sure your boys be as quiet as possible. About five guys should be good.”

 

Ned was standing on the roof of a building, scoping out Beaumont’s house. He knew or at least speculated from what Jóżef told him, that there would be around seventy or so men inside the building.

Jóżef and Felicia were swiftly taking out man after man in the house, the cultists were not very well at utilizing firearms, and having a marine trained man and a woman who could curse anyone with bad luck led to jammed guns and silent takedowns. The building had about three floors and a basement, with only twenty-five of them, spread out through the first three floors. As they made it to the first floor they were met with the sight of ten men webbed to the walls, struggling to free themselves. Jóżef narrowed his eyes before he entered the basement, looking at the man webbed to the walls that were spread out along the stairwell. That brought the count of guards who were unconscious up to thirty-five.

Jóżef set the Chameleon-Cam free and let Karen run off down the stairwell, he looked at the footage through his special night vision glasses, he told Ned it was safe for them to come down, and in a few, moments, Ned was down in the stairwell with them.

Ned was always brave as a journalist, they took a hiding spot and took photos of everything that was happening, their eyes fixated on the person up front who was leading the temple in Beaumont’s place.

“I am Brother G, and I shall be your new priest, praise be to Loki!” G was obviously very new to the concept of leading a religious service, and it showed in his overwhelming enthusiasm and youthful voice. Ned recorded his speech, “We are together tonight to mourn the recent captures of our many brothers and sisters by the heretical Spider-Man and his sidekicks. Tonight, we will feast, tomorrow evening we raid the city!” G raised his fist into the air, holding a scramasax

“Yeah, I don’t think so!” called out an authoritative feminine voice. With that a set of webs ripped away the scramasax and was thrown at one of the cultists, hitting them right in the head, following by G being landed on by a woman wearing black spandex, a set of deep sky blue flats, a white hoodie, and a white face mask.

Jóżef pulled out his knockout arrows, firing three of them, covering Felicia as she ran into battle, her Carbonadium claws were inside of her gloves as she swung around using her grappling guns and working with the other woman to fight the cultists. Felicia noticed that the woman fought as if she was inspired by kung-fu movies and that their teamwork was rather fluid as if they were dancing partners.

Jóżef made sure that the parishioners who attempted to kill them were not able to escape by shooting them with knockout arrows, Jóżef made sure Ned was okay and eventually the five officers came in, using their weapons to beat down cultists when some of them made it close to the door.

As the smoke cleared Felicia was standing next to the woman, “Who are you, under there. I know you.” Felicia narrowed her eyes, placing her hands on the woman’s shoulders.

The woman grinned, speaking calmly, “I’m White Widow,” She lifted her mask to the nose, leaning in, “But you can call me Gwen.” The woman pressed her lips to Felicia’s gently and quickly, pulling away slowly from the sweet affection. As Felicia began an attempt to speak Gwen put her finger to Felicia’s lips. “I’ll tell you everything when you get back to the dorm, but for now. . . I’m gonna get away from the cops, you should too.” Gwen smiled under her mask before she made her way out of the room.

 

_ Jóżef sighed tiredly as he lied down in the bed once he got back to their Queens apartment. _ “How was your day off Peter?” Jóżef asked softly, turning on his side to wrap an arm around Peter.

Peter groaned weakly as he turned on his side, cuddling into the warmth of his partner’s chest. “It was amazing. . . but it would’ve been better if I had you here.” Peter had eventually gotten back to the apartment, Karen never telling him what Jóżef was up to and insisting that he get more rest after the incident with Varner. “What did you do while I slept?”

“Me and Felicia found another temple leader. They’ve been shuffling leaders around, they’re panicking with how many we’ve taken down in a few days. We’re pretty sure the guy is involved in the Queens County court system in some way since he talked to a guy called Beaumont about-

“Beaumont is a cultist?!” Peter sat up, looking shocked.

“Yup, the ‘cook of Queens,’ was poisoning people in that shelter and in his restaurant, Ned showed up and showed us his proof too, he killed so many people. . . Oh, that Gwen girl we saved last night, apparently she calls herself ‘White Widow,’ and uses all of your powers, but she got away after talking to Felicia, she was too quick for me to talk, so.”

“I guess the plot thickens. . . Let’s rest up, I gotta meet your parents tomorrow, remember?” Peter asked with a smile, cuddling deeper into the pillow that was his boyfriend’s chest.

Jóżef smiled and rubbed Peter’s head gently, “Yeah, we’ll go to the court tomorrow and see what we can find, dobranoc Paj ączku.” The last thing on  Jóżef’s mind was the words G said at the end of his speech  _ tomorrow evening we raid the city! _ It was a mathematical impossibility, clearly, the Queens cult was spread thin.

 

_ Chapter V. Proud Family _

Parker was twiddling with his fingers, fidgeting nervously as they approached the house. Peter was. . . beyond over-dressed for the event, it was just an early dinner for the four of them. Of course, Peter was petrified of the prospect of meeting Jóżef’s parents. They produced  _ Jóżef _ of all the guys in the world. Hitherto, Peter had only been told about Jóżef’s parents, and, of course, the son had only good things to say about his father and mother. Peter was still horrified that he would mess up and possibly make the people who were, more likely than not, going to be his in-laws.

Peter heard the sweet irony in the words Jóżef’s words of assurance, “I hope I do fine.” Peter murmured sighing as he reached into his left pocket, playing with the fidget cube inside as Jóżef led him into the house. 

“Mamo, Tata! Jestem tutaj.” Jóżef was holding Peter’s hand, closing the door behind them. He listened, trying to see if anything was wrong. Soon enough he heard his mother’s sweet voice.

“Jestem w kuchni,  gołąbeczku!” She called out.

Peter seemed a bit amused as  Jóżef furrowed his brows. Peter was sweating just slightly from his fear of being unimpressive to Jóżef’s parents but that look of frustration on Jóżef’s face was too good. “Mamo, dlaczego wciąż musisz mnie nazywać gołąbeczku?” Jóżef asked, letting go of Peter’s hand and walking into the kitchen with his arms folded.

Peter listened to the sounds of Jóżef’s deep voice reverberating in Polish and the feminine voice of his mother, that was before he heard a deep American accent speaking English from the hallway entrance. Peter looked over and was met with a man who was about six feet and one inch tall, he had black hair which could have sucked the stars away, a well-trimmed beard with thick eyebrows, and the same sweet brown eyes Jóżef had. The man had a well-made build as well. Peter found his words jumbled, practically stumbling over his own two feet. “Mister, uh,  _ fu- _ ” He stood up properly before he could possibly fall, out-stretching a hand, “Mister Ross, it's nice to meet you, I’m Peter!”

The man gave a slight grin, reaching out to grasp Peter’s hand firmly. “You must be the Mister Parker my boy’s been telling me so much about, he tells me you’re really intelligent, but what else would I expect from someone he calls ‘The Inventive Spider-Man?’” The man gave a smirk as he let go of Peter’s hand gently, “So what are you going to study, something that involves mechanics or robotics or-?”

“-Computer science, sir; and mechanical engineering.” Peter smiled brightly, making sure her nervousness was as hidden as possible.

“‘Sir,’ Mister, Parker—I’m gonna call you Peter—Just call me Daniel, or Dan, or Danny. Lighten up a bit with the ‘Mister Ross,’ this and that. And next time, go light on the formal wear, you might mess it up while eating. Rosie’s food is pretty fantastic.”

Peter smiled, rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, can I go uh. . . change into my street clothes?” He chuckled a bit. He knew the suit was a bit much. He removed the black tie and the coat, folding them carefully. When Daniel stood to the side and pointed to the bathroom Peter rushed in.

Peter came out in a plaid button-up shirt made of different shades of blue which was rolled up to the elbow, a set of black jeans, and a set of black tennis shoes that had grey laces and white bottoms. Peter had his leather bracelet and watch on with his web shooters as well. He walked into the living room once more before he heard Jóżef speaking in Polish once more, the only word Peter could catch was ‘Chłodnik,’ which Peter knew was a cold ‘soup,’ since Peter had complained about the heat frequently during summer and Jóżef surprised him with a nice cold beet soup.

Peter walked to the couch, setting his bag of clothes down before he sat next to them, looking at Daniel. “So. . .”

“I’ll be straight with you, Pete. Do you love my little boy?” Daniel asked, sitting back with a leg crossed, “We’re both men, we can talk with each other. Hell, I dated my guy friend when I was in college. I need to know what my son has gotten himself into.” Daniel was staring at Peter, his eyes bringing about intimidation. It was as if the eyes of his own lover was looking at him with scorn.

“More than anything,” Peter said, a bit of sweat forming on his forehead. “Wait you’re bi?”

“Yes indeed, ‘Sir,’” Daniel responded, standing up from the couch and making his way to the kitchen.

“Explains how Joey got so gay.” Peter joked to himself before he stood and headed into the kitchen. The sound of his boyfriend speaking to his mother in Polish was like music to Peter’s ears. He watched the two ‘homemakers’ cook, the chłodnik was already prepared, chilled as ice; there were handmade pierogi being cooked as well; and the ingredients for what Jóżef called ‘szarlotka,’ on the counter. Peter thought that Jóżef looked, in a word, beautiful to Peter while wearing a plaid type of apron and helping his mother prepare. “Przygotuję stół, Mamo.” Jóżef gave his mother a gentle kiss on the cheek then left the kitchen, his father followed behind him soon, talking with him about a recent sports game.

Peter was attempting to leave the kitchen, hoping to speak with his partner, that was before he heard the feminine voice say, “Piotruś, come here.” She looked back at Peter, a small grin on her face. God, that grin looked like Jóżef’s and the woman’s light brown hair was absolutely stunning. She had beautiful green eyes and nice eyebrows. 

Peter quickly approached her, “Yes, ma’am?” Peter asked, looking down at her. She was relatively smaller than her partner, with an average frame. But what mattered to Peter was that Jóżef mentioned she was a linguist. “What can I help you with?”

“Hand me the strawberry filling over there.” Róża was busy finally adding the fillings to her pierogi since her soup was finally finished, she was happy to finally be finished cooking so she could start on the dessert and have dinner with her son, it had been so long since she did. “Thank you.” She said gently as she began filling the pierogi with strawberry filling, then a quark filling to go along with it. “So, all this time, my son’s boyfriend was someone just like him. That’s good.”

“What do you mean ‘someone like him,’ ma’am?” Peter asked with an eyebrow raised, picking up the large bowl of soup, almost shocked by just how cold the soup was. “May I do the honours of taking this to the table?” Peter asked, taking it off to the table which Jóżef had already set by the time Peter walked in, Peter then returned to the kitchen.

“What I mean is that he found someone with powers. Like him. He didn’t get someone who couldn’t relate to him, that’s what I want the most for him, to find the person he relates to the best and who understands him. And if you’re with him then all is as God sees just and proper. Does my son cook the most?”

Peter chuckled nervously at the question, relieved that both of Jóżef’s parents seemed to like him so far, however. “Yeah, he does. I  _ wish _ I could cook the way he does. It’s like watching someone do magic. . . Whenever I try to cook the pot has a fifty-fifty chance of catching fire.”

Róża gave out a sweet chuckle at the last part of what Peter said. “ Mój gołąbeczku  always did love cooking, he’s been practicing for so many years. I even have pictures from the first cake he made: he over-cooked it and wanted to try again till he got it right. Be good to him, promise me that.”

“I will I will. Whats uh,  ‘go-em-bech-koo,’ mean by the way?” Peter helped Róża prepare the rest of the pierogi, carefully putting the fillings in and following her lead when it came to putting sour cream and meats on them.

“‘My little dove.’ He’s always been my little dove. I love him more than anything. And if I have to give him away it has to be to someone I know feels the same about him.” Róża looked up at Peter, “Clean your hands and get to the table, I’ll join you all at the table when I’m finished with preparing the cheesecake.” She washed her hands then got to work with the szarlotka.

Peter took the tray of pierogi to the table when he left the kitchen and set it next to the soup, sitting next to  Jóżef and lacing their fingers together under the table. He listened once Daniel called his name. “Yes?”

Daniel sat back in his chair after grabbing one of the pierogi, devouring it greedily. He had not eaten all day in anticipation of his wife’s cooking. He finished his food before answering Peter’s question in response to his address: “Has Joey talked with you about going on our trip to Finger Lake national park?”

“Uh, no. . ? What about it?” Peter asked, scratching the back of Jóżef’s hand gently.

“It’s just a little hunting trip. We used to go on them before the accident and this is gonna be our first one in forever. And since you’re a part of his family I was thinking you’d like to come. We rent a room up there and go hunting every day and see who can get the first bear and dear. We use everything we hunt after we finish, Róża makes some damn good venison.” 

Peter smiled as he was invited to something so obviously special to Daniel. “Well, I’d like to but I’ve got school and everything at MIT coming up, I’m pretty sure Jóżef is teaching there too, I’m not sure how either of us are gonna make it with schedules so loaded.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I found a way to get you and me both free for just a week, my schedule isn’t too heavy.” Jóżef gave Peter a sweet smile which Peter returned.

“I guess that means I’m in, Daniel.” He chuckled, soon watching as Róża came out of the kitchen, going into the hallway and to the bedroom, returning with a small photo album, and sitting with them.

Soon enough, Jóżef was speaking, his entire body turning pink. “Och nie, mamo, nie. Proszę,” Jóżef covered his face. He fiddled with the plate in front of him, still blushing faintly.

“Och tak, synu, tak.” Róża said, a small smirk on her face, Daniel covered his face for a moment, then made himself a plate of the pierogi and a bowl of soup. Daniel had the smallest grin on his face, eating slowly. “Peter, look,” Róża said as she opened up the photo album, getting Peter’s attention while he ate the chłodnik

“Who’s that?” Peter asked, looking at the scrawny fourteen-year-old in the photo. He had those eyes, and that same brown hair, but the hair was longer, almost to his neck. Peter took another sip of the soup which was almost the same shade as his partner and he ate one of the cucumbers in it.

“That’s Jóżef, look how tiny he is!” She laughed, grinning at Peter’s surprised expression.

“Wow, he’s so little!” Peter said, hearing Jóżef cover his face with a harsh slap and place his face against the desk.

“Mamo, dlaczego zawstydzasz mnie w ten sposób?” He groaned out, hearing his mother speak to him in reply.

“ponieważ cię kocham.” She went through the photo album, showing Peter all of Jóżef’s baby photos, Peter thought that Jóżef was adorable as a child, it even had a photo of Jóżef holding a rifle at about the age of twelve in what was some forest in Upstate New York. Jóżef had a little ushanka on. “That hat was his great grandmother’s from when she fought in the war, Jóżef wanted to be just like her so his dad took him hunting with a rifle when he was twelve.”

“Joey, your great grandma fought in a war? That’s amazing. Does he still have the little hat?” Peter asked watching Róża stand up and go off to Jóżef’s old bedroom, returning with the second world war era ushanka in hand. Róża gave Peter the hate and, in return, Peter put the hat on Jóżef’s head.

Jóżef sat up with a grunt, fixing the fish fur hat and tying the ear flaps to the centre so his ears would not overheat. “Tatuś, could you pass the salt, please.” Jóżef simply needed a bit more salt for his pierogi, his mother’s cooking was beyond perfect but his more chameleon-like taste buds desired a bit more salt.

Peter and Daniel both reached out for the salt and the world seemed to stop. Róża took a deep breath to stifle her half embarrassed half amused noises, standing. “I’ll go check on the cheesecake.”

Daniel simply looked at his son, his head tilting slightly. “I’m not even surprised.” Daniel grasped his bowl, drinking from it directly rather than with a spoon. He set it back down when he finished drinking the entirety of it. “You get it from me, I guess.” He used a fork to stab at the many vegetables in the soup, eating the cucumbers, delicious green onions, and dill in the soup, the remnants of the yogurt soup turned beet colour still in the bowl.

Jóżef’s entire body was a bright shade of pink as he rested his head on the desk, “O mój Boże, umieram.  Jezu, zabij mnie teraz, proszę.”  Jóżef sat up and removed his hat, going back to eating his food while looking down at his food quietly.

Peter’s cheeks were flushed slightly still and soon Róża came in with a sarlotka, setting it on the table and taking the empty bowl that soup was distributed from adn the empty plate that had the pierogi. She sat back down with them and continued eating her pierogi. “Peter, Jóżef told me you have only your aunt left?”

“Oh, May? Y-yeah, she’s all I got from the rest of my family. She really likes Jóżef too! And she’s always so. . . supportive.”

Róża nodded, “Well, would you and May like to come over for Christmas? I’m sure it can’t be fun spending Christmas with just the two of you, we’d love to get together.” Róża gave Peter a gentle smile, finishing her pierogi and going back to eating her soup.

Peter smiled, “Yeah, sure. I’ll talk with her about it! I think she’d love to meet you guys.” Peter pulled out his phone, “Why don’t you call her later?”

Róża looked over at Peter, away from her soup. “Sounds fine to me, Peter.” She got May’s number from Peter then put her phone away. “Thank you.” She went back to eating her soup. “Oh, Jóżef, Honey, we’re going to Mass in the Bronx with your cousin next Sunday. His son is getting baptised.”

Jóżef nodded and finished eating his food, “Sounds like fun, Mamo.”

“Will Peter be coming with you?”

Peter looked up from his food, he was suddenly being invited to everything that involved Jóżef’s life, and Peter was not necessarily religious, he had not been to any religious building in years. May went to church every once in a while but Peter had never tagged along. “Sure! What should I wear?”

Róża back in her chair and grabbed a hold of a small leather-bound bible, she opened it and turned to a page near the back, “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?’ James chapter two, verses one through five. Basically, come as you are and you will be fine.”

Peter chuckled a bit, a little surprised she simply kept a bible so close in the house. “Okay, I’ll be there with Jóżef.”

“Alright. Well, let’s dig into the cheesecake.” She handed Daniel the knife and Daniel began cutting the szarlotka coated with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and a few strawberries. Daniel put one piece on the cake and handed the first piece to their guest, then to the lovely cook, he handed his son one of the pieces and served himself one as well.

“Dziękuję kochanie,” Daniel said with a bright smile, his Polish was not as fluent as his son’s and wife’s, but he learned the simple things in an effort to make his wife feel happier.

Peter spoke softly. “Róża, Jóżef was telling me you were a Soviet linguist back in the day?” Peter made sure to clean his mouth of crumbs.

“Yes, I teach Linguistics, Classics, and German at Empire State University, but most of my work is in the linguistics field. My largest area of study is Sociolinguistics.”

“So, what do you do with Sociolinguistics?” Peter asked between bits of the delicious cheesecake, it was practically irresistible.

“I study linguistics through the lens of difference, and it has a lot of sub-fields, or at least I’d call them sub-fields, such as gender identity, sex, sexuality, race, and other things. But my approach is frequently questioned since I haven’t bought into the ‘intersectionalist,’ notion, it. . . isolates variables to me, and I can’t study linguistics in a vacuum. My job as a sociolinguist is to take all the parts and look at them as a natural scientist would, not as small disconnected parts, but as an entire. . . hm,  _ spider’s web _ of the way different groups think about the world, relate to it and are related to by others. There’s a copy of my book at MIT if you decide to read it. It has a lot in it, there are even a few things that I wrote with my colleague on the philosophy of language.”

Róża seemed beyond vibrant about her work but Peter was looking as if she had spoken in code, he felt alienated as Jóżef began speaking with her in the same coded language. “I read that journal you sent me on structuralist notions of linguistics, Chomsky’s concepts of the LAD, and the Japhetic Theory which you based a little bit of your work off of. Then I read some of your papers, I liked your critique of Chomsky’s notions and your analysis of Wittgenstein’s concept of ‘language games,’ in the philosophy section. I finished reading Freire and some of the critical pedagogists, I’m thinking of including the method in my introductory classes.”

When Peter looked at Daniel he saw the man slowly eating his cheesecake, one dark eyebrow raised and showing ‘interest,’ in their conversation. Daniel was hoping that Peter took notes on what to do when Jóżef went on these tangents about philosophy and linguistics, which was one of Jóżef’s sub-studies thanks to his mother. 

Peter met Daniel’s eyes and they gave each other nods of understanding while the two loves of their life talked endlessly. Daniel and Peter finished their food within a few minutes of each other, both leaving the table and going out to the front porch.

“So, Pete, What are you gonna study at MIT, and what about the whole Spider-Man thing, who’s gonna look out for us while you two are gone?”

Peter chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his head, “Well, I haven't made any plans but if what Joey tells me is true then there's another superhero duo to watch over this place when we leave. And about Cambridge, I guess they'll get Spider-Man for four years and then we'll be out.”

Daniel nodded. “Sounds like a solid plan.” he gave a smirk, sitting comfortably in a chair. “Is the superhero things fun?”

“It's a living. Or I wish it was after what me and Jó go through. Sometimes we stay home for days to make sure we get healed up after a brutal fight, like what happened with that guy who had the arms a few days ago. It's not always too bad though.”

“Um. . . Do you see what I see towards Queens?”

Peter rose a brow before he looked in the same direction Daniel was looking in. His eyes widening in horror.  _ FIRE _ . Then there was an explosion loud enough to be heard from their position in Greenpoint. Peter ran inside of the house, “Jóżef, we gotta go! Something’s happening in Queens!”

Jóżef looked down at his mother, giving her a quick kiss to the cheek, “Kocham cię, Mamo.” Jóżef ran out of the house, following behind Peter. “Love you, dad!” The Polish man grabbed a hold of Peter’s back and Peter swung them up into the air, heading straight towards Queens. Jóżef’s parents told him they loved him and both of the parents looked at each other.

Daniel sat back, watching the two head off towards the explosion. “We did good, right honey? We didn’t go wrong with him did we?”

“We did great,” Róża replied, leaning down and giving Daniel a gentle kiss to the cheek, making her partner smile. 

 

_ Chapter VI. Capio Finis Initio _

Peter was swinging with all of his strength to the radius of the explosion, they quickly arrived at Jackson Heights, where the blast had originated, likely in some attempt to clear possible evidence of a temple or to get Spider-Man and Red Umbra's attention. Peter brought Jóżef to the scene and set him down, joining him soon enough.

“Co do cholery?” Jóżef asked calmly before another explosion occurred in the same building, sending debris onto the ground. Jóżef covered his face with his forearm for a brief moment. “Peter, we have to find all the civilians inside!” Before Jóżef could get Peter's word he was already running inside of the building, vaulting over a fallen beam. He had been lucky since most of the people in the Neo-Gregorian building had escaped. There were a few outliers, such as a mother and her babies on the fifth floor.

Peter had been busy saving the people who were trapped on the ninth and tenth floors, bringing them down to the ground with ease. When the last civilian was out Peter and Jóżef escaped the hellish fires that burned behind them. Jóżef had a few cuts on his face from the event. “Good work, Pete-” As Jóżef spoke another loud explosion went off, sending a great tremor through the earth. “That must be the temple.”

Jóżef looked at the building behind him once he heard the sound of a heavy door opening. He was greeted with the sight of an emerging cultist, who was holding a spear in their hand which was a trishula. At their waist was a katar and a kukri. They had their cloak on entirely, the hood pulled over in an attempt to prevent anyone from pulling their mask off.

The person whistled, a sharp crack ringing out in Jóżef’s ear, after that five cult members came out. Each one held a scramasax, and in their other hand lied either a shield or some other weapon such as a Carolingian.

Jóżef sighed softly. “I hope Felicia shows up,” He looked to Peter and gave him a nod, rushing towards the cult members, his pistol out and loaded with a tear gas-pepper spray round. As one of the cultists he approached raised their weapon Jóżef vaulted over them, shooting the pepper spray round, thankful his glasses had formed just in time to protect his eyes. He stood up and defended himself from the attacks of another one while two of them coughed and rubbed at their eyes in pain.

Jóżef punched his attacker and raised his forearm as a scramasax came down on him, the weapons were only made of stainless steel but the guard moved too quickly for him to parry the attack. Jóżef was getting pushed back further and further, He made a kick and found his leg caught in the grip of his attacker, “Spidey!” He called out, and just in time, Peter shot three webs at the attacker, pulling them down but causing Jóżef to fall in the process.

Peter shot several rapid-fire webs at one of the cultists then sprang into the air. He shot two long webs at them then pulled them into the air, he did a flip with his webs attached to the attacker then put his force into throwing the attacker at another cultist. “ _ YEET _ .” 

Peter avoided the attack of another and punched them in the side. The cultist was rubbing their eyes and holding their side, growling in anger. Peter watched as Jóżef sat up, back aching in pain, and the cultist who had the trishula approached Jóżef. Peter shot a web at the weapon and ripped it from the cultist’s hand, spinning it around and threw it at one of the other’s. “Hey, buddy hold this for me!” Peter ran towards the cultist nearest to Jóżef and gave them multiple attacks with his feet, soon enough shooting two webs at them and kicking them away. Peter felt a shadow above him and the crash of metal against metal.

Jóżef had the trishula in his hand he locked the scramasax within the space between two of the trishula’s blades. He brought the scramasax down and shoved into the cultist, making them fall. Jóżef took a quick count of their enemies,  _ five _ . . . Jóżef hit the one who was next to him in the head with the butt end of the weapon.  _ Four. _ Jóżef helped Peter stand up and he shot a bean bag round at one of them.

“Joey, throw me!” Peter ordered.

“What?” Jóżef questioned as he put the trishula on his back, taking his bow out and firing an arrow, growling when one of them deflected his arrow. 

“Just do what I say!” Peter replied, and as Jóżef did what Peter asked Peter got ready to enact his plan. As Peter was propelled he fired a splitter web with one hand and fired a web bomb at the others. He lifted the two connected to the splitter web and threw them to the ground, making them stay stuck to the ground. Peter covered them in webs while they were on the ground, and after that, he got into combat with the two that remained.

Jóżef joined into the fight, firing a knockout arrow while one of them was distracted, and as that one fell Peter gave the last one a low kick, making them fall to the ground. Peter kicked them, causing them to turn on their side, unconscious.

For a brief moment, the world was at a standstill.

Then a blade flew by their heads when they were about to embrace one another in celebration. They heard a loud war cry and before they could fight back Jóżef found himself with the blade of a katar deep into his stomach, the attack was not fatal but it felt like liquid fire being pumped into his body. The only thing that managed to bring the blade through Jóżef’s armour was the great speed with which the weapon was brought to blow. 

The cultist threw Jóżef to the ground, ignoring his groans as they met Peter’s eye lenses. The cultist put their katar away and leaned down, taking the trishula from Jóżef’s back. The cultist approached Peter and the blades of the trishula glowed with electricity. They dashed forward with great speed and Peter barely managed to dodge it. Peter grabbed the handle of the trishula and gave the cultist a headbutt. “You bastard!”

“Oh, do you not like watching him bleed out?” They asked, ripping the weapon away and hitting Peter with the blunt end. Peter grabbed a hold of the blunt end as it was brought to him and he pulled roughly, trying to rip the trident like weapon away from him.

Peter saw Jóżef stand up from the corner of his eye. “I think I’ll enjoy watching you bleed out!” Peter dodged an attack by giving a back-flip. Peter blocked a strike with his forearm and he kicked the cultist back from him by turning to the side and attacking with a queixada. Peter jumped into the air, landing on the trishula with perfect balance. “Ready for some vitamin  _ K _ ?” Peter quipped kicking him in the head before he jumped from the trishula.

“You little!” The cultist charged forward and Peter grabbed the prongs of the trishula, falling back with the cultist over him. Peter made sure he did not get cut, keeping the weapon away from him.

“Any last words?” The cultist asked, trying to force the weapon against Peter’s super strength, despite the resistance they were met with.

Peter looked up at them, smirking under his mask. “You should always finish what you start.”

“What?” The cultist asked and before they could finally kill Peter they found the blade of their own kukri through their side.

Jóżef grunted, tossing the cultist to the side and watching them squirm. Jóżef covered his own side. “Doesn’t feel too good does it, you ass?” Jóżef looked at Peter. “Call Laney. . . and get me to a hospital.” Jóżef leaned on the wall of a building, sighing from the weakness he felt.

Peter nodded and stood up, calling Laney as the firefighters, officers, and EMT’s finally arrived on scene. “Took them long enough.” He muttered, wrapping the cultists together and squatting down. “Hey, Laney, we found some of the you-know-what’s. They tried burning down their temple, get here and try to find whatever evidence you can, your present is all wrapped up.” Peter reached forward, removing the mask of the cultist who had stabbed Jóżef. He looked at the back of the mask and found many of the symbols that had been mentioned in the note to Frank Martin, he also saw the face of Ravid Acharya, squirming around in an attempt to escape once more.

Peter walked over to the trishula and examined it as Jóżef was taken care of by one of the first responders. Peter examined the weapon and as he ran his hand along it he found the weapon collapsing in on itself into a small portable weapon with the counterweight remaining out as a sharp point which someone could use as a needle knife. Peter put the weapon away and headed back to Jóżef, taking his arms. “I’ll take him from here, thanks.” Peter took his partner from the EMT’s and carried him home.

 

_ Peter suddenly got a call from Felicia, making him answer as he cleaned Jóżef’s wounds. _ “Hey.” He muttered tiredly, patching up his partner once he got him out of the bathtub. “What’s that? You guys found the last two of them? Queens County Court I knew it! I’ll be right over!” Before Peter could set Jóżef in the bed he was stopped by his partner.

“Nie. I’m going with you. . . I can still fight, you need an archer.” Jóżef looked into Peter’s eyes, gripping his forearm tightly. “I’m going with and you can’t stop me.” He got out of the bed, holding his side for a moment. Jóżef took Peter’s arm and aimed the web shooter at his wound, talking with Karen. Eventually, he sprayed a layer of the web fluid over his wound and leaned on Parker. “I’m finishing this, no one attacks our home.”

Jóżef headed out and Peter sighed, picking his partner up. “Fine, but stay hidden.”

Peter made sure he kept Jóżef secure, taking him over to the Queens county court where a trial was in session. Peter made his way through one of the windows on the top floor. Peter activated his cloaking mode and he kept Jóżef close to him as he made his way into one of the rooms that was empty, finding Felicia and a girl in white standing there. “I got here as soon as I could,” Peter said calmly, standing properly as his cloaking mode deactivated, Jóżef did the same.

“I heard about the explosion, when it went off a black van stopped behind the court and masked men came out, then went in its direction, led by a guy with some spear on his back. I decided to investigate the justices, I found a mask in one of their offices while they were busy talking about ‘rituals,’ with someone named Jacob Nielsen.” Felicia pulled out two scraps of paper. “There are twenty of them in the courtroom, they’re dressed as jurors, and other people inside, they’re trying to get a cultist off the hook. “Take the notes we found, me and Gwen will be inside of the courtroom and we’ll be ready to strike when you give the word.” Felicia placed her hand on Peter’s shoulder. “We gotta protect our homes.” Felicia turned and headed out with Gwen soon.

“How does she even have powers?” Peter asked as he opened one of the notes, reading it quietly while Jóżef explained what Felicia had told him when he asked this same question. “Wait wait wait, so she uses her own web formula, special boots and gloves, and has an actual spidey-sense. . . well then. At least people will like her more than me.”

Jóżef chuckled. “I’m sure New York loves you.” He grabbed a hold of the note once Peter finished reading it, reading it out in his head.  _ Brother N., for my services in the justice system, I expect the same rewards Brother B. has received. It is true I am faithful to our Lord Loki, but it goes without saying that if Brother B did not have me he would have been sent to life without the possibility of parole and found guilty. - C. Re: Sister C., you must know that your work is beyond appreciated, if you feel like you have been overshadowed by your Brother you should have brought it to me sooner, I shall arrange for the meeting with the Spirit if you so desire. _ Jóżef hid the note and looked at the other note.  _ My child, you have faltered, I am sure you know what the penalty will be. I will raise Daughter C. to the rank of Disciple and you will be placed under her. It is clear that you need to return to study rather than continue to practice. Once you redeem yourself you will be put in charge of the new sect in Brooklyn once it is up and running, which will be  _ _ your _ _ responsibility. But, Son N., if you truly are as good as you say you are, in practice of law and ritual, good fortune to you. -Spirit, The Allmother H. A. _

Jóżef narrowed his eyes at the last words. He had heard of this H. J. in the last note from a disciple and he knew this Allmother was someone other than a statue the cultists worshipped. Peter tapped Jóżef on the shoulder and brought him out of his trance. “Ready to get this over with?” Peter asked, grabbing Jóżef’s hand.

Jóżef nodded gently and pulled out his bow, “I’ve got this. Don’t worry about me, my love bug.”

Peter chuckled faintly before he led Jóżef to a small spot where he overlooked the court and had the best vantage point in the cramped space. Peter crawled out of the hiding spot and onto the wall, his cloaking device activated. 

The court seemed on edge, the jury was packed with four people who seemed uncomfortable, two of them ignored the looks of their peers, the other six seemed confident of the outcome of this case, as if they were at ease.

The justice was a woman, by the name of Abigail Chang. She had her hands on her desk, a man by the name of Jacob Nielsen was talking. The court case had only just begun and Nielsen was making his defence in support of his client. The people in the pews behind the defendant and the plaintiff seemed irritated already.

Peter spotted Felicia on one end of the room and Gwen in another, both were on the ceiling. Peter gave them a nod, there was no reason to wait, they had the evidence they needed already by Felicia’s recordings of Chang and Neilsen’s conversations.

Felicia descended and landed on Nielsen and Gwen shot a web at one of the suspicious jurors. Almost immediately several people in the court rushed upon Felicia and Gwen, Peter joined the mix, kicking one of the attackers who was pulling a mask on. The attacker was knocked out and hit the plaintiff table, making it slide to the centre of the room. Nielsen ran into the back but was stopped by Gwen who shot several webs at the door, sticking him to it.

In the heat of battle Gwen was set upon by a mob and Felicia went to rescue her, hearing a loud sound of pain from Gwen when one of the cultists pulled off their belts and struck her with it. Felicia threw a weapon which emitted a bright light briefly and made the cultists let go of Gwen. Once they could see they were down to seventeen members. Felicia got on top of the table and grabbed a nearby chair expecting one of the cultists to rush at her from Gwen, but one of them, the defendant, came from behind, jumping onto the table.

Felicia tried to hit the cultist but they dodged and did a spin, making Felicia fall off the table and onto her back. The cultist extended one leg and rushed down, Felicia tried to defend herself but the chair was stolen from her as the cultists who were fighting with Gwen divided amongst themselves and tried to end the Black Cat. 

Peter jumped into the air and grabbed the chair with webs, throwing it off to the side and ignoring how Chang’s hands began to glow once she caught the chair as it approached her.

Jóżef shot three knockout arrows and made a few of the cultists fall, giving Gwen room to breathe now that the enemies were down to fourteen. 

Four of them tried to attack Peter but he webbed one of them up and spun them around before launching them at their friends. “Go fetch!” Peter rushed over to help Felicia as he defended herself by ruthlessly slapping cultists with one hand in hopes of getting their masks off. Peter swung to one of the cultists and kicked them in the back, making them fall, he jumped before he could be attacked, grabbing the knife that would have cut him and he threw it at the attacker, hitting them with the blunt end. “Stay!” He said as if the cultist was no more than a dog.

“Yeah. . . you know what?” Peter shot a web bomb, completely tired of this game, there were six left, Chang made seven as she rushed down to attack Gwen from behind.

Peter shot a web and sent the weapon out of Chang’s hand. “I hope you do, you’ll be a dead son of a-

“Shut up!” Change ordered as she pulled out a pistol, and before she could fire Jóżef had shot the weapon from her hand with an arrow. 

“Thanks, babe!” Peter called as he shot multiple webs at Chang. “Handle the rest, I’m going after Nielsen!” Peter then ran through the back door of the courtroom and he was met with a hallway which led down into a temple. Peter rushed down the stairs, “Karen, get me a scan, how far is he?” Peter eventually got to the bottom of the stairs once Karen answered, looking at Nielsen who had a Carolingian in his hand, a mask on which made his eyes burn with a fire and a dark aura surrounded his body. “Gross, dude.”

“Be silent,” Nielsen said, his sword layering over in the same dark aura before he dashed. He moved too fast for Peter to see and as Peter blinked he found the man in his face, pushing the Spider-Man onto his back. “WHOA. That’s a cool sword.” Peter rolled his eyes and shot multiple webs at the sword, rolling out the way and hearing the sound of vibrating metal. Peter jumped onto his feet and his spidey-sense went off, making him duck quickly. It continued to sound endlessly, and Peter naturally avoided every attack. Peter realized the man’s power was super speed, it made him the hardest enemy to fight especially with the enhancements. 

Peter jumped back several feet and launched one of the drones. “You think that’ll stop me?” Nielsen asked, his voice distorted. He dodged the electric attacks from the drone and eventually brought his sword down on the drone, luckily the drone avoided the attack but had a bit of damage on it. 

“Oh, it can’t, but I can!” Peter said as he swung at Nielsen, his feet hitting Nielsen in the chest and making him hit the wall of the temple. He immediately webbed Nielsen up and took a deep breath. “God. . .” Then the sound of vibrating metal was heard and Nielsen was cutting himself free. “I think not, thot!” Peter grabbed the handle of the sword and threw it off to the side, causing it to land right into the left eye of Loki’s statue. Peter immediately webbed the man up once more and sighed tiredly. “Been a hell of a few days, right, Nielsen? You should of that about that before you came after my family.” He took the mask off of the defence attorney and called up Laney. “Yeah, I got your guy. Get to the Queens County Court. You’ll find all the cultists here. Yeah, see you ‘round Laney.”

“You’re pathetic, spider. You’ll be crushed by us. And from your death, the new order of this city will emerge, and We will bring about a golden age to the world after we finish with New York!”

“Yeah, the last one told me that. But the thing about you cultists—is that your faith comes with no strategy.”

Peter stretched his back as he headed up the stairs, looking at Gwen and Felicia were panting, while Jóżef sat up with his weapons put away. “White Widow?” He asked. “What makes you do this?”

“I finally got tired of being a victim.” Gwen simply said before she grabbed Felicia and fled the court house.

Peter sighed. “I hate when they’re like that.” He said calmly, swinging up to Jóżef. “And for you mister, it's time for a nap.” Peter lifted both of their masks gently and leaned in, kissing his partner gently. “And no arguments this time.”

When the sounds of police sirens outside and of officers making their way into the courtroom consumed the entirety of the scene Peter took Jóżef back home, excited to get comfortable again.

 

_ Peter helped Jóżef inside of the house _ , holding him up protectively. Peter sat Jóżef in a chair, pressing the spot on his partner’s chest which made the suit become a set of dog tags. Peter pressed both the buttons on his suit and his watch returned along with the leather bracelet.

Peter grabbed Jóżef’s legs, yanking his pants off roughly before he got closer, pressing his lips to his partners as he undid Jóżef’s shirt and pulled it off. “You gotta rest up, otherwise your mom will kill me.”

Jóżef broke into a happy chuckle, pulling Peter’s plaid blue shirt off, tossing it to the side. Jóżef watched as Peter took their shoes and set them off to the side. Jóżef grabbed at his partner’s jeans and tugged them down roughly, he pressed gentle little kisses to his partner’s cheeks pulling him in close as the both of them were now sitting in their socks and undergarments. Jóżef adjusted his t-shirt and moved over to the couch, the webs still wrapped around his wound. Jóżef stood and grabbed a hold of their blanket from the bedroom. Jóżef came back and set the blanket on their couch, sitting on it and making space for his partner.

Peter smiled weakly and sat next to his partner, hugging him tightly and leaning on his shoulder. “You can’t get hurt anymore, okay? I need you to be alive.” Peter kissed his cheek once more and closed his eyes.

Jóżef hugged Peter tightly. “Okay, I promise I’ll stay safe just for you.” Jóżef closed his eyes as well, kissing his cheek before he slept.

 

_ The two heroes were unaware of the ongoings in Manhattan and the Bronx.  _ In Manhattan a man was being executed, Frank Martin was being tortured for his failure and was blamed for the fall of the Queens sect.

A woman approached from the darkness, her face covered by a hood from the cloak, she did not wear a mask, nor did she need to. “Frank. . . Frank. . . Frank—You  _ Failure _ !” She brought her hand down against Frank’s cheek, a burn mark left as she pulled her hand away soon. “Have you anything to say for what you’ve done? A whole Sect of our faith  _ gone _ in a few days—all because of you.”

Frank trembled, hearing the next words.  _ All because you failed to clean up after Thomas _ . “Allmother, please. I can make up for this. I am your humble servant, I wish to redeem myself!” Frank bowed down, tears in his eyes as the burn mark settled in, scarring his face. “I beg you for my redemption.” He said, whimpering in fear.

The woman glared, her eyes glowing a crimson shade of red. “You should know, Frank. There are no third tries for what you’ve done. You are. . . a liability.” She smirked down at Frank as he looked at her with a look of absolute horror, “Sister Andersen. Do what must be done.”

Frank began to cower, covering his face as he spoke. “No, no, Moira, please! You’ve known me since childhood, please convince the Allmother to give me another chance.”

Another woman came by the Allmother, a sacrificial dagger in her hand. “I’m sorry, Frank. But you know that I follow the wishes of the Spirit, for she is the one who enacts Loki’s will.” Moira lifted the sacrificial blade. “For the Allmother!” She said, suddenly bringing the blade down.

“You have done good, Sister Andersen. I know where your loyalty lies.” The Spirit of Sigyn patted Andersen on the back. “He could not have been allowed to live, he would have only held us back.”

“I understand, Allmother. But what happens now?” Moira removed her mask, her black hair revealed as she lowered her hood.

“Now?” She asked, reaching up to remove Moira’s mask, looking into her dark eyes. “Well now, we initiate the second phase of our plan, Spider-Man has taken the bait, all we have to do now is reel him in.” The Allmother removed her hood, putting her blond locks and blue eyes exposed, her skin extremely pale and delicate to the touch. “While the police clean themselves in Queens, we shall wreak havoc in the Bronx. All things shall go as we intend them, Afterall, who is Davis to deny us, we have his nephew now, the one thing he cares about more than anything else.”

“If you are sure, Allmother: Thy will be done.” Moira pulled her hood back on. “I am eternally grateful for you bringing me from Korea, I am your humble servant.” Moira gave a bow of respect and looked at the monitors on the screen. 

Aaron Davis was in a cell deeper in the temple, two of the cultists had him tied down as they fitted him for the suit, putting the purple garments on him and eventually making him sit up. They placed a set of gauntlets on him, making him wince from pain as the harness was attached to his back. The purple armour was placed over the black and green spandex, they brought boots to Davis’ feet, attaching the equipment.

The Allmother came down into the cells, looking at the new result of her magic infused armour. The helmet was placed on Davis’ face, the small eye slits glowing white. The Allmother made a purple cloak appear and as she placed it on Davis’ back the suit became smooth and the technology integrated itself into the suit, becoming the usual skin tight outfit enhanced individuals wore. “Rise, Prowler. And when you bring me Spider-Man’s head, I shall call off my followers, and your Nephew will be able to go to school with a gun at his back. Your work begins in the Bronx.” The Allmother watched as Davis left, heading towards the Bronx, ready to finish his duty.

FINIS SECUNDUS LIBER DE QUINQUE


	3. Book III of the Cult of Loki: Spiders Moving en Masse

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__The Third Book of_ ** _The Cult of Loki_**

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**_The Third Book of Five on the Tales of Peter Parker and Jóżef Ross Against the Lokians_ **

  
  
  
  


_Chapter I. Clue to a Suspect_

It had been a week since Peter and Jóżef had met the two women that called themselves Black Cat and White Widow. For a while, things seemed to be in the most perfect peace. Jóżef was standing in the Workshop with Gwendolyn.

“So, tell me about yourself Gwen,” Jóżef said calmly, as he continued with stitching the pink fabric with grey webbing along her arms as a winding pattern and the same pink with grey webbing inside the hood. “Also, do you want to keep the black or go with an all-white outfit this time?”

“Well,” Gwen began, “My father, George, is a Police chief and my mother, Helen, is a professor at ESU. I went to Midtown High and graduated a year before Felicia in twenty-eighteen. From there me and my mother started working together on this stuff.” Gwen lifted the legs of the suit, examining the fabric, “And yeah, let’s keep it black, it looks good, I like the contrast of the two colours.” Gwen leaned on the table slightly, “What about that stealth mode Pete has on his suit, could I get that?” Gwen asked.

“Sure, I still have the retroreflective material I used for Peter’s in the back.” Jóżef said with a sewing needle in between his teeth, “Can I put a spider logo on your outfit too?” He asked calmly as he continued sewing in the pink fabric.

Gwen spoke softly in reply. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She said with a grin, pulling out her phone to text Felicia.

Jóżef sat back with a small notebook, beginning to draw out different spider-shaped logos. The artistic muses had not taken him in quite some time, usually, when he drew he was working on concepts for outfits with specific uses. The suit Peter currently wore was actually designed to be used against Octavius but several other designs had been integrated into it. Jóżef did not have the same apparatus to replicate Stark’s four spider arms, but he could integrate other designs he had made, and even give Peter an artificial version of his chameleon powers. Either he drew designs or he would. . . draw Peter. And he greatly enjoyed drawing his partner. Eventually, he had a design where the abdomen of the spider was shaped like a diamond, the eight legs were all diagonal as if the spider was ready to pounce and the ends of the legs were bent at an angle.

Jóżef retained the black that went to Gwen’s chest per her request but he placed three white claw-like marks on each of her hips with one being at her waist. Jóżef integrated the web shooters as both being half of the nanotech suit which Gwen could easily wear under her shirts, which she frequently did. Jóżef made sure the shoes were made of flexible vibranium so she did not have to carry around a pair of blue flats in her backpack. Jóżef worked on the mask, and the special lenses he out behind the eyes caused the faintest pink glow to emit from the expressive eyes.

Gwen smiled, “Well, I’ll admit, it's better than what I made at the ESU lab. You put anti-gravity material in it to make me jump higher too.” Other than that the functions remained the same, with gloves and shoes made of a material that allowed her to artificially use Spider powers.

“Yeah, Peter’s powers give him super strength and that lets him jump incredibly high in the air, the material should act the same for you and make certain things lighter. And no, Gwen, that doesn’t mean pick me up to test out the suit.”

Gwen chuckled before standing up, “Thanks for this, Felicia and I will meet you, later on, to talk about Laney.”

“Yeah. . . I’ll just go meet him now.” Jóżef rubbed his eyes tiredly and he left the Workshop after Gwen had been gone for a few minutes.

The trip from Staten Island to the Bronx was longer than Jóżef would have desired, including one taxi trip to the Staten Island Ferry, the ferry trip to Whitehall terminal, a walk to the subway a, and then a subway trip to the Bronx from Manhattan. Jóżef sighed as he finally approached the meeting spot Laney had chosen for their meeting, “You know, Laney. . . I never trusted a cop.” Jóżef stood back against the wall of the bar Laney had chosen in the Bronx.

The stench of alcohol was beyond repulsive to Jóżef, the mixture of cheap beer and vomit in the back more than. “But-”

“-But let me guess, I’m ‘one of the good ones?’” Laney said calmly, wearing a coat and a hat from the chill of the night air, it was around eleven now. Laney adjusted his coat with a file inside of it. “Feel’s good tonight, don’t you think, Shadow?”

“Oh, on the contrary, you’re not ‘one of the good ones,’ there’s no such thing as a good cop, you’re just a nicer one. But there’s one thing you’re right about, the night air feels good.” Jóżef’s skin camouflaged with the building, his body relaxed from the coolness he felt.

Laney rolled his eyes, “Thanks for the promotion, I’ve got a lead on the cult,”: The cult had, as mentioned, seemed to disappear entirely and leave the city at its state of peace, there had been no sightings of cult members for a week now, no masks, or noise complaints of chants, nor magic knives. “A detective’s been following around a Catholic priest who made a public statement about a recent string of burglaries.”

“A recent string of burglaries?” Ross asked, standing up properly, curious to hear about these burglaries had to do with a priest of Christ.

“You haven’t heard of the burglaries?” Laney asked, and when Jóżef indicated that he had not heard of these robberies Laney explained. “People all over the Bronx have been reporting the same thing, a man in purple, black, and green tights break into their house with a cloak and hood, he subdues them with cuffs if he finds them, robs them, and gets out of the house. He never strikes the same neighbourhood and he’s been seen going through the back of a church by two people. After that, the priest gave a statement calling for the community to unify and work together ‘in Christ’s name,’ against the thief.”

“Thanks for the info, got a name, or somewhere for me to start?” Jóżef asked sarcastically, waiting for the third-grade detective to tell him more.

“This,” He held out the file he had brought with him, “Is Peter Noah Smith,” Jóżef opened the file, looking at the man with circular framed glasses, well-combed hair with a ponytail, and a set of professional clothes. “He’s a deacon at the church that the criminal’s been seen going into, he’s real quiet, keeps to himself a lot usually. But in the past couple days, he’s left the back door to the church unlocked, usually, he’ll go outside for a minute or two, then lock the door and head home, but he hasn’t been doing that. See what you can find him, it's hard to get a deacon down for anything cult related, but no one forgets to lock a door three days in a row.” Laney put his hands back in his coat, fixing his hat before he did. “I know you don’t like working with us but you’re the only guy I can trust right now after what Martin did.”

“You’re lucky you’re the only reliable cop. I’ll check it out.” Jóżef was only checking this place out because he was going to this church on Sunday for a baptism ceremony. “See you around Laney, give me anything you manage to dig up, you’ve got my work number.” Jozef began heading away, Laney's words ringing in his ears. _Be safe_. At least Laney cared about the man who gave him a promotion.

Jóżef headed towards the subway, taking a trip once more which took him back to Manhattan. Jóżef was picked up by Peter who was swinging through the city, waiting for him in Harlem. “This place is amazing! We gotta come back before we go to MIT!” Peter said as he swung from Harlem towards Greenwich Village.

“We should go out clubbing!” Jóżef replied, holding onto Peter tightly as he nuzzled into the man's shoulder, kissing it gently. “God I can't wait to get rid of all these cultists, they're such a pain.” He said, holding Peter tighter and wrapping his legs around his partner.

Peter chuckled faintly, blushing under his mask from the feeling of Jóżef's warm body against his own. “I know how you feel on that! And when they're gone we'll have a bit of fun before we travel.” Peter eventually arrived at a small restaurant outside of ESU where Felicia and Gwen wanted to meet the place was virtually empty. “Table for four we're meeting Felicia and Gwen,” Peter said politely. He was wearing an Under Armour muscle shirt with a t-shirt that had ‘Swole,’ on it in large letters and under it was written ‘\’swōl\ _adj._ 1\. Extremely buff or muscular. Example: _Me_.’ Peter had purchased the shirt from CafePress.

“You worked out today?” Jóżef asked with a chuckle, knowing Peter had in fact worked out with Ned at the gym today, Ned had posted on their Instagram a set of photos and videos of the work out session that took multiple hours at different times.

“Aw, you noticed?” Peter asked with a small grin, grabbing Jóżef's arm tightly, pulling the man down for a gentle kiss.

Jóżef gave an amused chuckle before he kissed Peter on this lips several brief times. “Yeah, you're ‘super swole,’ right now.”

The two of them were led to the table where Felicia and Gwen were sitting, both of them holding single menu together with Felicia holding Gwen in one of her arms, both of them looking completely exhausted from their day.

“Thank you,” Jóżef said kindly to the working woman and sat down in the booth across from his friends. He picked up a menu and blushed as he felt Peter cuddle into his side, yawning softly. The lights in the restaurant were not bright, in fact, they were dimmed to a relaxing level. Jóżef hugged Peter around the waist and he held up the menu to his partner.

Peter spoke softly. “How was your guys’ day?” He kept looking through the menu, work had been brutal today, and his boss was beyond the typical jerk who overworked him.

Felicia spoke softly. “I'm exhausted from Bio labs but other than that all things have been good,” She whispered soon, “Stopped a robbery today but Jonah thinks I helped start it.”

Gwen chimed in, “He's digging himself a deeper grave, accused me of breaking and entering earlier when I stopped a home invasion. There's nothing he won't say for views.”

Jóżef joined in on the whispering, sneering a bit at the mention of Jonah, “‘life of a hero,’ right? Dealing with that jackass has to be the worst part of the job.”

Peter rubbed Jóżef's back gently. “Calm down, deep breaths, you're turning red babe.” Peter eventually managed to calm his partner down. Jóżef still had issues with controlling his powers once in a while and the quickest way to give away a secret identity was to change colour out of nowhere.

Felicia set down her and Gwen's menu, the two of them cuddling together just a bit. “What about you, Joe?” Felicia asked calmly.

Jóżef rubbed his temples slowly as his skin finally returned to its usual colour. “Laney gave me a lead to follow up on, so I'm going to check it out tomorrow night, Gwen and I spent the day working on her suit, and I had a nice class today with the kids who wanted to learn about engineering today.”

Gwen gave a gentle nod and as the waiter came to their table Gwen ordered a raspberry iced tea, Felicia ordered herself a vanilla Pepsi, Peter got himself a strawberry Coca-Cola, and finally, Jóżef got himself a strawberry-plum smoothie. As the waiter left, Gwen spoke again. “So, Joe, tell us about the lead I might join you on this while Pete is busy with his aunt tomorrow, might as well put that gift you gave me to good use,” Gwen sat back allowing Felicia to lean on her shoulder.

Jóżef grinned at that, “Sounds good, Gwen,” He leaned forward, whispering the details, “Laney found a guy at a local church, and this time its a bit personal because I know this preacher and his deacons. Laney says he thinks the Deacon is helping this burglar who’s been going around the Bronx recently, so we’ll be investigating the church, looks like you’ll be able to put that special ability to use.” Jóżef pointed to an item on a menu. “I’m getting a burger.” He said calmly, kissing Peter on the jaw.

“Cobb Salad for me,” Peter said calmly, setting their menu down and reaching under the table to hold Jóżef’s hand gently. Peter leaned on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. “It should be illegal for you to be this great, it's unnatural.” Peter gave an amused look as Jóżef looked down at him, expressing both perplexion and flushness.

“Oh?” The Polish man asked softly, lacing his fingers together with Peter’s, “You think so?” He grinned leaning down to look into Peter’s eyes. He did not want to think of whatever was happening at the church right at the moment, especially not when it was twelve at night and he had been working all day, Mondays were not his favourite. Every Monday entailed too much work in a day, too little time with his sweet Pete, and a temporary uptick in minor crimes that needed to be stopped. The last one was decreasing thanks to Felicia and Gwen joining them, however.

Peter nodded. “I think so.” After a few moments, the waiter came by and Jóżef ordered his food along with Peter. Felicia spoke calmly, “I’ll have the chicken fried steak with fries,” She grinned and handed both the menus to the waiter while Gwen ordered herself a chicken club with a Cæsar salad on the side.

Jóżef greatly enjoyed these double dates the two couples did now, they would get together at a restaurant, at the Jóżef and Peter’s apartment, a little café, or in Felicia and Gwen’s dorm room. It was something nice to do between busy days, this was one of those days. “So, what are you girls gonna do when Fall semester starts?”

Felicia and Gwen were both a part of a summer class session, taking one science. Felicia was taking a one hundred level Bio and Gwen was taking a two hundred level Chemistry class since she was a sophomore already. “We’ll still live together in the same dorm as last semester and our schedules are sort of similar this year. It's gonna be interesting working after you two are gone. What are you and Peter going to do while at MIT?”

Peter was the first to answer, “They’ve got me in two science classes, a philosophy class, and an LGBT studies class.” Peter soon thought of a question, looking up at his partner. “Does your mom know Noam Chomsky?”

Jóżef chuckled softly before answering. “Funny you should mention that. . . they do. And they don’t get along much.” Then he looked over to Felicia and Gwen, “I’ll be teaching both of the Mechanics and Material Classes, they also have me doing a nanoengineering lab and working with another researcher on nanotech,” Jóżef leaned on Peter again and after a while of talking their food was brought out.

The four of them ate their food, talking every once in a while, Jóżef continued to hold Peter’s hand under the table, he was excited to go to MIT once more and be on the teaching side of the situation. What he was not excited for, however, was the idea of having to deal with people who had just graduated from high school, he remembered when he first got to MIT and even he had to admit that for a ‘super genius,’ he had a bad attitude. But then again, he was around ten when he went.

“Peter,” Gwen said calmly, “Are you ready for that workload? I mean you’re going to one of the best colleges for stuff like that, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be harder than you’re making it out to be.” Gwen was almost done with her chicken club and she would be moving to her salad pretty soon.

Peter put his fork down and covered his mouth before he finished eating the bite of salad and speaking. “Don’t worry about me, I’ve got one of the professors there to help me with homework, I’m sure I’ll find _some way_ to make it through.” Peter was mostly joking, sure he would need help with homework every once in a while but he was well within his right to seek Jóżef’s help with his first science class, which was Mechanics and Materials I.

Felicia found herself a bit amused, “Don’t sleep with the professor for a good grade, Peter, speaking from experience it’s not a good idea.” She finished her chicken fried steak and moved onto her fries.

Peter smiled in response. “Don’t worry, I won’t. Thanks for the advice, Felicia.”

When the four of them finished eating they split the bill and headed their own ways. Jóżef enjoyed spending the rest of his night, which began at one in the morning, with his partner. He kissed Peter on the forehead and they watched one of the movies on Netflix, they both fell asleep within the hour. The following day Jóżef knew what he had to do, and he hoped Laney was wrong about this deacon, but it was, more likely than not, the case that Detective Laney was correct. When Laney had a hunch it usually turned out to be correct. This was, however, the church Jóżef’s paternal cousin went to, and he did not want to think of anything horrible happening there with the cult.

 

_Chapter II. The Crouching Wolf_

Jóżef sat on top of the edge of an elevated railway track, sitting with Gwen, “The suspect’s name is Peter Noah Smith, when he comes out we watch him closely, and if he doesn't lock the door we go in and see what we can find, and hopefully, we’ll find the burglar.” Or rather, sadly. Jóżef sat on the edge still, eating a sandwich Peter had kindly made him. He loved when Peter did little affectionate things like this, they showed Jóżef just how much love Peter had for him, Jóżef was used to being the one who cooked for them all the time.

Gwen nodded and swung her legs gently, “The suit feels really comfortable. Thanks for helping me with making this.” Gwen stood up once she saw a man emerging from the back of the church at around ten at night. “Is that our guy?”

Jóżef took note of the many features on the man’s face, he had glasses and that same ponytail. Jóżef nodded briefly, “Yeah let’s keep an eye on him and see what he does. Karen, can you tell me what he’s smoking?” Jóżef sighed in disgust when he was told the man was using tobacco. He knew it was not against the church to use tobacco but the prospect of a ‘man of God,’ using tobacco still made him feel ill. It was obvious how he felt by his entire face and fingers going red, furious. “Karen, can you go into the church and do a bit of investigation?” Jóżef took out the little Chameleon-Cam and watched as it came to life, crawling down the train railway and onto the ground.

Gwen kept her eyes on the deacon, shoon shooting webs at the roof of a nearby building and jumping over to it. She sat atop the roof and crouched, walking over to the edge calmly. Things were beyond too silent here, she knew that it would be more than likely that cultists were in the church. Gwendolyn snuck into the church easily and crawled along the ceiling. The church had multiple small buildings with offices connected to it. Gwendolyn narrowed her eyes as she saw the group of four people in masks talking. She knew she could not take them out at the moment since the three of them would be able to draw attention to her. There could have been more cultists around.

“Father,” Said the first man, “Have you heard of what happened to Brother Martin?”

“No, I have not,” The disciple, who had a man’s voice, replied. “What has happened to Son Martin, I assume he was sentenced to whippings for what he caused.

“Oh, no, Father.” Said the third person in the room interrupting, her voice a woman’s, “Brother Martin isn’t. . . a Brother anymore, he was put to death by our all mother at the hand of Sister M.”

“My goodness!” Another woman said with a soft gasp, holding the Disciple’s arm. “My goodness, Sister. Was what he did truly that horrible?”

“If what the stories say is true, then yes,” Said the first man and the four of them were walking towards the door soon. Gwen hoped Karen was getting all of this information recorded and would be able to analyse the audio in hopes of discovering identities.

Karen was, in fact, following and recording but the masks made an analysis of their voices impossible. Karen continued recording. “So just what are the stories?” The woman asked her ‘Brother.’

The man looked over at her,k watching as she held onto one of the ‘Father’s’ arms, “Well, Sister, Brother Martin was found guilty of being responsible for the fall of the Queens Borough sect by providing Spider-Man and his sidekick-”

 _I’m not his sidekick!_ Jóżef though, glaring as he continued watching the footage through the eyes of the Chameleon.

“-with information that led to the reveal of all of their identities. So, as you know, the Allmother despises those who give away our secrets and decided that Martin was a liability to our faith and goals.”

“It is always sad when one who held faith dies because of failings.” The ‘Father,’ said calmly, continuing to walk, “We’re meeting our last brother outside so that our plan may begin its course.” As they walked out they were met by a person with a mask on. “Ah, there is Brother S.” There was not a lot of proof to show Peter Noah Smith was involved other than the initial S., but there were many people with the Initial _S_ in their name. “Brother, tell us, what did you think of the mass today.”

“It was quite sad, seeing all of them who follow a ‘God,’ who was so easily killed by ordinary men and put on a piece of wood, but, at least you bring to me the young minds that I can mould to better suit our cause, the children will make excellent worshipers in the new order of Loki, and our Phoenix shall blaze a path to redemption for humanity.” Brother S. said before speaking once more, “Brother P., what did you think of Sister L.’s performance today? I believe it was spectacular.”

The woman folded her arms and her posture became bashful, she looked away soon, listening to Brother P.’s words.

“I believe she did fantastically, she has some of the best musical talents I have ever seen with all the parishes I have been a part of. She must be guided by the skilful hand of Sigyn.” He said, making space between him and the Sister. “What of you, Sister L.?” He asked, looking at the Sister who stood right next to the ‘Father.’

Sister L. spoke softly, “I think she went great, But I would like to know what my husband thinks, Father L.”

Father L then spoke, “I think her performance was well. She has always been a great musician.”  Father L held the hand of another one of them. “We all know the spot then, I shall see you all tomorrow.”

“Yes you shall,” One of them replied and a man in the same black, green, and purple outfit with a cape arrived at the church.

“Move,” The man said bluntly as he walked into the parish, his voice deep and distorted.

Gwen avoided the new person's eyes by going into his stealth mode, crawling away behind a desk so she could deactivate the stealth device.

Gwen went wide-eyed as she heard footsteps and she hid under the desk entirely. The deep breathing and heavy grunting above her sent shivers of fear down her spine. The breathing passed her as the footsteps reemerged, heading towards another door.

Gwen got from under the desk and crouched, going over to the door carefully. She opened the door and found a spiralling stairwell. She activated her stealth mode and began walking up the stairs slowly, nervous about the situation. She had never encountered breathing like that, it felt like a wild animal was above her.

She walked halfway up the stairs and heard more footsteps that walked in a direction away from her. She reached the top of the stairwell and found a man in a super-powered suit, knowing this was who had been over her.

She took note that this person lived in a bedroom that was hidden inside of the church, finding a set of men's care items such as a razor, cologne, and other things.

“It's not nice to go spy on people.” came a deep, distorted voice, and with that Gwen's feeling of unease tightened, telling her to move, so she did, feeling the breeze of a knee fly by her face, looking at the glowing aura which dissipated after the knife hit the wall. Gwendolyn looked back, staring at the man who had sharp-clawed gloves on his hand. “Another Spider. Just means more work for me to do.” The man dashed forwards attempting to strike Gwen.

Gwendolyn jumped into the air, avoiding the shot before she found herself shot with a grappling book and brought back to the ground. She rolled to the side and did a spinning kick as she got back to her feet, landing a hit to the man's chin. Gwen caught the clawed hand with her own palms, the sharp points just a few inches away from her face. She jumped up while holding his arms still and kicked him back, doing a backflip in the process. “Shadow, I need some backup!” she said over the comms as she ducked to avoid the next attack.

Jóżef took out a roped arrow and shot the room he knew Gwen was in, making a zip line to the window. He used his bow as a device to slide across the angled rope and put his feet up with force. He broke through the window with his booted feet and in the process crashed into the attacker. Jóżef bounced back from the enemy and whistled, making his bow come to his hand in a non-physical form, rather as an astral body since it was still on the roof outside. Jóżef reached back into his quiver and an immaterial arrow which glowed came out, he fired a few arrows and the man dodged each of them. “Widow do whatever you're gonna do now!”

Gwen spoke, “Right!” She began shooting multiple webs at the attacker, aggravated with how he cut each and every web away while avoiding Jóżef's arrows. Sure he was struggling with the webbing but he was still getting out of it. Jóżef was still firing his glowing arrows at the attacker.

Eventually, the man turned around and lifted his cape at each end and the arrows simply bounced from it while the webs made the same echoing sound it would make if it hit metal. Everything stopped for a brief moment, no webs, no arrows. The attacker jumped backwards through the space and landed on Jóżef's shoulders, trying to choke out the archer. “Die!” He ordered.

Gwen gave a powerful kick through the air, making the man fall off of Jóżef but caused both of them to go tumbling back. The man stood up and kicked Gwendolyn in the stomach while she was down, making her roll off of Jóżef and on her side.

The man put his foot on Jóżef's chest and on Gwendolyn's hand, a small cylinder opened up on his wrist and a bright purple light was exposed. Jóżef made an arrow materialize and he stabbed the attacker in the calf, making them hiss in pain and throw an arm in the air, a bream of purple energy flying out and cutting a large line along the roof and ceiling of the building.

The man growled and kicked at Jóżef in anger, causing the archer to turn on his side in pain, groaning deeply. Another cylinder on his right arm opened this time, a small slide tipped with something green revealing itself.

Gwen shot a web at the spike and pulled forcefully, making the weeping tear away from the very gauntlet it was a part of and hit the wall, causing the paint to melt off. As Gwen sat up, squatting still, she shot multiple webs at the man. He continued to cut the webs out by the minute. Gwendolyn saw that her simple webbing would not cut it so she shot an impact web which came with the force of a moving truck and saw the man slide across the floor, his boots gripping by forming into cleats. Gwen began to bridge the space between them, shooting impact webs with every four steps.

The man growled and jumped through the broken window. Gwen leaned over the broken window, looking for the man who flew out the window, finding him nowhere. “We just got our asses handed to us and he's gone. . .” Gwen sighed and walked over to Jóżef, picking him up. “We gotta go tell the others what we saw.”

Jóżef nodded and walked weakly, whistling to make his real bow come to his back, he put the arrow shooter on his back and walked towards the window. “Yeah. Let's. . . Take the subway, please. My whole body hurts.”

“Yeah,” Gwen said calmly, walking over to the door and holding it open for Jóżef.

 

_Chapter III. Building a Case_

Jóżef typing every little thing he knew so far about the cult group in the Bronx. He knew that three of them had last names that ended with a letter L, one of them was without a shadow of a doubt, Peter Smith, and the last one was someone with a last name that ended with a P. He knew that they were all involved with the Cult in some way due to how they all talked to one another, and kept his eyes close to the Chameleon-Cam drone which had caught the entire conversation in video and audio.

Jóżef sighed and knew he needed to tell Laney about the burglar and tell him his suspicions were correct.

 

Peter had been with Aunt May when his spidey-sense went off, he was watching tv with her. The moment that tingle came about he screamed, “Get down!” He jumped on top of May, causing them both to fall to the ground. “May, May, _May!_ Are you okay?”

“I’m. . . fine.” May said, looking around, “Nothing happened.” She said calmly, now sitting up to look at Peter. Once she was perfectly seated there was a loud crash through the window, May looked over in horror and immediately Peter had sprung into action, shooting webs at the visitor in their living room.

The webs were easily cut to shreds and Peter was forced to evade the attacks brought to him, he jumped over the attacker, “Dude, not cool! I’m trying to have a day off!” Peter shot two webs at the man and those two landed on their targets, they had landed on the attacker’s wrists. Peter pulled the two lines apart at a distance, making it so the attacker could not free himself by cutting the webs from either wrist. “Now, who are you?” Peter asked, authority exercising itself in his.

The man gave a chuckle, a single cylinder opening up and a purple laser revealing itself, “You know me already.” He said, causing Peter to feel a sort of dread at the reply, the blaster fired a beam of energy and cut the webs. The attacker cut his other hand free and he lunged at Peter. “I’m Prowler!” He said, his voice reverberating through the mask which distorted his pitch.

Peter glared at him and jumped through the space of the room, kicking Prowler directly in the chest, making him fall through the door, breaking it. Peter went out, getting into another melee with him. Peter gave him a firm punch to the nose, dodging the sharp claws that came at him.

The two of them were fighting in another apartment room. Prowler grabbed a vase and attempted to hit Peter with it, managing to hit him in fact. Peter groaned in pain, “Talk about getting ‘pot-head,’” He backflipped away from the claws and ducked as Prowler dove at him, Prowler crashed through the window and Peter laughed from the pure amusement he felt form this. “And that’s how the loser fell from grace.”

“Funny, Spider-” Came Prowler’s voice, making Peter pause, the expressive eyes of his mask getting large. “But remember pride cometh before the fall.” Peter noticed that there was a rope attached to the ceiling of the building and he stepped back swiftly as Prowler came back inside of the room with great power. The power in that kick could have sent Peter flying if he had not avoided it. Peter looked through the selection of webs he had and quickly shot a taser web. Peter watched as May and the other civilians escaped the apartment building. “Karen, call Red Umbra for back up!”

“Thanks, Karen!” Peeter called before he avoided another shot from the blaster. “He’s got some of that old alien tech, where did he even get that stuff from?”

“Probably at the United States Department of Damage Control where the Chitauri equipment is still being stored,” Karen said tactfully.

“Yeah, thanks Karen, but _how_?” Peter emphasised, trying to get his sarcasm across. He caught one of Prowler’s hands and gave him a punch to the stomach, sending him flying back into the wall.

Prowler stood easily and smirked under his helmet at Parker’s frustration. That was before Peter charged at him, tackling him through the window. The great breaking of glass and the feeling of wind rushing against their bodies enveloped them.

Peter stood and shot a web at the building then one at Prowler, wrapping him easily in a cocoon and suspending him from up high on the building. “And there we go, little guy,” Peter said calmly as he jumped from his wrapped up target and to the ground, the police were making their way over to the scene with great haste. “Babe!” he said enthusiastically, running over to his partner to embrace him.

“You caught him?” Jóżef asked, partly impressed, partly surprised, partly underwhelmed. He knew Peter would be capable of handling Prowler, yet he remained constantly impressed with his partner’s work. "You never cease to impress me,” Jóżef whispered, hugging Peter tightly. Jóżef watched as the police took Prowler into custody, removing his mask to reveal a face Peter had not seen in a few years.

“He’s the man behind the mask?” Peter asked, clearly surprised. “How did he even get his hands on something like that?”

 

Aaron was sitting inside of the interrogation room, that same generic stone wall background with a one-way mirror, the same metal made green door next to the mirror. Aaron sat at the table, his hands cuffed due to presumptions of guilt before proven guilty. “Mister Aaron Davis, or as Spider-Man reports ‘Prowler,’-

“Who-?” Aaron asked, feigning innocence, looking directly into the officer’s eyes. Aaron sat back in his chair properly, no fear shown in his eyes.

“Don’t play with me, Davis. We know you’re the one who did those robberies in the Bronx, we know about your attack on May Parker too, come clean. And if you come clean we’ll give you ten years.” The officer was standing, her hands on the top rail. “This may be your only chance at a reduced sentence Davis, tell us your accomplices and I’ll see if I can get it pushed down to seven years.” She folded her arms now, standing over Davis.

Aaron chuckled, looking down at the table. He slammed his cuffed wrists onto the table before looking up at the officer, the inkling of something green in the veins of his eyes which quickly dissipated. “I don’t like being played with.” He narrowed his eyes, clenching his hands into fists.

“Neither do I. So why don’t you stop wasting our time and admit what you did.” The officer sat down, leaning forward on the table. “I’m sure you don’t want twenty-five years.”

The green surfaced in the veins of his eyes once more, “‘Detective’ DeWolff, you got family in your life?” He asked bluntly, looking her in the eyes.

She leaned back in the chair, pulling out a pack of Virginia Slims, “So you’re playing that game are you?” She asked, placing the cigarette in her mouth and pulling out her lighter, she was planning on going outside after this interrogation.

“I’m just sayin’ if you knew the situation I was in, you wouldn’t be acting like this. I got someone to look out for.” Aaron let out a yawn, covering his mouth. “Now, are we done?”

“Yeah, we’re done.” She rolled her eyes and exited the room, going out to the hallway where Peter and Jóżef were waiting. They were still in full costume of course. “Spider,” She said calmly, “What do you want?” She did not mean to sound cold, Davis had just managed to frustrate her slightly.

“We need whatever you can tell us about Davis,” Peter said quickly, folding his arms, “Motives, family, anything. I met him once and he doesn’t seem like the kinda guy to do something like this.”

“None of them ‘seem like that kinda guy,’ that’s what everyone says. How did you meet him?-

“-The ferry thing that happened a couple years back. He gave me the tip about Adrian Toomes.-

“-He gave you a ‘tip,’ a couple years back so you think he’s a good guy?” Jean said, putting her lighter away and taking the cigarette from her lips, realizing this was going to take longer than she had hoped.

Peter narrowed his eyes, speaking once more, “Listen, Detective, there’s something going on here, what man comes in and attacks a residential area rather than robs it. And if he was going to rob it why would he do it in the middle of the day. I think there’s something going on with him and I don’t think he’s doing this on his own.” Peter was holding back the information Jóżef had told him, he was still protective of any leads he might have. “Please, tell me anything, he mentioned some ‘family,’ in the room, right?”

DeWolff let out a sigh, leaning back against the wall. “Alright, alright. Guy’s got a brother, I know him too. His name’s Jefferson Davis. Jefferson went clean very early on and became a cop in Brooklyn. He’s got a wife and kids, both live in Queens. The ‘Good Ol’ American Dream,’” Jean ran a hand through her red hair, sighing tiredly. “Yeah, now can you move, I need a smoke.”

Peter nodded, “I’ll investigate any reason why he might be doing this. . . and those things’ll kill you know.” He said, pointing at the cigarette quickly. Peter was looking at the information Karen was bringing upon Jefferson Davis, past records about crimes committed, he even made it onto the news once, with a younger Dianna Olsen reporting on his crimes. Apparently, she had brought him down on a few petty crimes.

“Listen kid, I take these things because naïve superheroes think people who break into houses and attack residents ‘aren’t those kinds of guys,’ I’m sure you understand,” She said, “See you ‘round Spider, we’ll try and get more info out of Davis,” She walked past Peter going up the stairs to take a smoke break, the Virginia Slims were the only good things left in her life besides Stan Carter who was her partner in two ways.

Jóżef looked over at Peter, placing his hands on Peter’s shoulders, “Quick, do you remember anything about the conversation, at all with him— _anything_?” Jóżef looked into the lenses of Peter’s expressive eyes, he wished he could look into the pools of brown Peter had.

“Davis mentioned that he had a nephew or something, seemed to care a lot about him. Never mentioned anything about his brother though.” Peter said, placing a hand on his chin in thought. He moved Jóżef’s hands from his shoulders, “We should go to Brooklyn and track down Jefferson Davis, He might be a target of the cult; Especially if they’ve brought someone from Queens into this mess. We can’t let him get hurt.”

Jóżef nodded and asked Karen to call Laney for him, “Let’s get going, Spidey.” Jóżef grabbed Peter’s hand and walked with him outside, speaking with Laney. “Hey, Laney: Do you know anything about an officer Jefferson Davis?” He asked, holding onto Peter tightly as the web-slinger brought them up to the top of a building.

“You kiddin’?” Laney asked, “Everyone knows Davis, the wonder kid who came into the station and changed his ways to become a Lieutenant. Why ya asking?” Laney replied.

“His brother-

“Aaron Davis? The thug? What about him?”

Jóżef almost scrunched his nose up at the word ‘thug,’ he continued speaking. “Yeah, Aaron Davis, he purposefully avoided the other word. “He attacked a residential area in Queens but the officers found some evidence pointing to something going on in the Brinz. We think it involves his nephew, could you introduce us to Jefferson, it's urgent.”

“Yeah. I can, but you’ll owe me a favour after.” despite how ‘honest,’ of a cop Laney was there was always a quid pro quo, some sort of trade-off between them. Laney never played around, and the tit for tat relationship between them was simply tacit at this point. Jóżef was _fine_ with Laney for the most part, even liked him slightly. Peter, on the other hand, was good friends with him, would even show up once in a while to ask him ‘about his day.’

Jóżef sighed, “Fine, fine. Just make it happen, we’ll meet you in Brooklyn. Yeah, Bushwick like you said.” Jóżef said. “See you then Laney.” Jóżef looked over to Peter after hanging up the phone. “Well, we’re meeting Jeff Davis then .”

“Wanna take the subway to Brooklyn?” Peter asked, “We could wear our suits and pretend to be cosplayers.” A little light bulb seemed to go off in his head, “Or we could have a trip with our fans. Sign a few autographs, the whole sha-bang.” Peter grinned under his mark.

“We have to be careful if we do something like that, make sure your mask is pinned so people can’t pull it off. Never know what kind of Jameson nuts we’ll run into.” Jóżef replied, folding his arms a bit nervous at the idea of even considering openly going on a subway where people know they were not just cosplayers, anything could have happened.

“Gotcha,” Peter said, snapping his fingers with a grin. He chuckled at his partner’s bewildered eye roll, He knew Jóżef loved his little suggestions like this. Peter grabbed his hand and they headed to the subway station.

When the two of them got inside of the subway they were taking, Peter paid their fair in cash just to be safe. “Hey, everyone. It’s Spider-Man and the Scarlet Shadow on the train!” His voice was full of enthusiasm. The train was mostly silent. “Jeez, rough crowd.”

“If you’re Spider-man prove it.” A dark-skinned teenager said, holding up a cell phone.

Peter noticed who this young man was, and he saw that the people standing with Miles had suspicious glares on their faces. Peter narrowed his eyes and carefully approached, “Hey Miles, was that chilli dog good?” He asked, shooting a bit of web fluid into his hand as he swirled it in his hand like shaving cream, he moulded it into a ball. “Wanna play catch?”

“Y-yeah, sure!” Miles said, a slight grin on his face. He caught the small ball of webs once Peter threw it to him and Peter kept his eyes out for the two people that seemed to reach into their coats for something.

Peter knew what was about to happen, but he kept up the act so he could surprise them. “So how you been, Miles? Doing good in school?” Peter asked as he caught the ball then threw it back.

“Yeah, doing real good.” Someone was recording the event and a few people were taking particular notice to Peter doing a bit of community service with Miles. Miles threw the ball back.

Peter saw one pull out a read and the other pull out a small hunting knife. Peter threw the ball one last time. “That's good, Miles! Keep it up!” When Miles caught the ball the two men pulled on masks and the subway train erupted into gasps. Peter put his left hand on Miles’ shoulder and used his right wrist to shoot a splitter web.

“Rapid fire mode Karen!” Peter Said as he began shooting multiple rapid-fire webs at the two cultists, putting them up against the walls. Jóżef had told him there were five members with masks at the church, assuming they were the children since they were around the father, that meant there were a hundred and five cult members to fight. This made a hundred and three members. “there's my proof of being Spider-Man.” Peter grinned under his mask, most of the train still shocked by what happened.

When the train finally came to a stop Peter and Jóżef had both signed over a dozen autographs and Miles was sticking close to the web-slinger. “Miles,” Jóżef started. “It's obvious they were going after you so now you're coming with us.”

“Wait, does that mean I get to stay around you guys for a while?” Miles asked, his eyes showing bright happiness at the very prospect.

“For a little yeah,” Jóżef said. “Where you from?” He asked, folding his arms and still looking around suspiciously at the people on the train every once in a while. Jóżef listened as Miles responded.

“I’m from Queens, like you guys,” Miles said with a prideful grin on his face.

“I’m from Brooklyn-” Jóżef interrupted.

“What were you doing in the Bronx?” Peter asked, an eyebrow raised. If this Miles was who Peter thought he was, that entailed a requirement to be extra protective of this kid.

“Oh. . . my Uncle was kinda fighting you earlier. I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what happened with him or where he got that suit from, he’s not like that. He hasn’t had a run-in with the police for years now,” Miles looked down at the floor of the train, putting his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Don’t worry about it,” Peter said gently, ruffling his hair playfully. He could not blame Miles for the actions of Aaron, Miles seemed like a perfect kid too. He leaned down and whispered. “We’re meeting your dad in Brooklyn, so we’ll leave you with him when we get there.” Peter stood and nodded, “And on the way there you can ask us as many safe questions you want. Deal?”

Miles grinned, “Deal,” He shook Peter's hand and as the train came to a stop he exited. His eyes going wide when he saw ten masked cultists with Carolingians. There was mass screaming in the metro tunnel, the glow of swords visible. Jóżef sighed as he put Miles behind him and pulled out his bow. Peter came out of the train as well, getting protective of Miles. “Be careful,” Miles said nervously.

Peter chuckled. “Don’t worry about us,” He rushed forward, jumping into the air. Peter shot two webs and ripped a sword from one of the cultists, swinging the weapon down against another cultist, hitting them in the head and knocking them out. Peter shot multiple webs at other cultists.

Jóżef was shooting arrow after arrow, trying to knock out cultists. Only three of them went down and a cultist got past Jóżef, going after Miles with their sword ready.

Miles let out a loud scream and covered his face. Miles felt a breeze of air and heard a cultist scream as they were yanked away by one of Peter’s webs. Peter shot an impact web, sending another cultist against a wall, knocking them out and keeping them webbed to the wall in the process.

Peter was suddenly pushed down from behind and a cultist was over him with a sword, Jóżef shot at them and hit the attacker, but that resulted in a cultist hitting him down to the ground. As they raised their sword a gut-wrenching ‘No!’ was heard. The cultist found themself without a weapon due to a web, Jóżef turned onto his back and shot a cultist with a bean bag round. He stood up with a groan, looking over at Miles to see a web that came from his wrist. “What the _f-_ ” He was suddenly hit in the jaw and he growled. He punched his offending attacker and sent them to the ground. There were three left.

Peter sat up, dizzy. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He shot a web at someone who was running towards Miles and swung over, punching him in the liver. The cultist turned around, holding their side and raising their sword. “I’ll kill you-” They dropped suddenly, incapacitated.

It had all happened so quickly, Peter was smirking. “Works every time.” Peter shot a trip mine at one of them and the two immediately got webbed together. Peter sighed in relief, bending over to hold his knees. “I’m _exhausted_. Babe, babe, carry me to the police station.” Peter joked. The web-slinger let out a yelp as he was thrown over Jóżef’s shoulder.

Jóżef chuckled deeply, looking over at Miles. “Let’s get going,” Jóżef was smiling under his mask. He carried Peter up the stairs of the subway entrance, Miles was trailing behind them. “When did you get your powers, Miles?” Jóżef asked.

Miles hesitantly responded, “It just sort of happened right now. I’ve been feeling funny ever since the time I met you guys, a week before that I was bitten by a spider and had a really bad case of epilepsy. But my seizures have just gone away all of a sudden, I can look at flashing lights now. I think I got powers from the bite.”

This story sounded familiar to Peter, mostly because he related to it entirely. When he was fourteen he had been bitten by a spider as well, his vision problems were better, he got stronger. He became a healthy male with a clean slate. The only difference between he and Miles was that Miles developed his own webbing. “Not gonna lie, Miles. Having webbing like that makes me jealous. I have to carry around so many web fluid replacements. But you know you gotta be careful with your powers. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this: Your powers are a gift, and gifts are supposed to help people.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Miles said calmly, hoping this meant that he was going to be taught to use his powers by _the_ Spider-Man.

 

When they finally arrived at the police precinct in Bushwick, they found Jefferson Davis sitting outside, they knew it was him by how Miles went over after saying ‘Dad!’ Jóżef set Peter on the ground gently. “Time to walk again my handsome Spider.” Jóżef grabbed Peter’s hand as he walked towards the officer and his son, looking at the many tags on Jefferson’s uniform. It was clear that Jefferson was, in fact, the Lieutenant and the man who helped direct this entire precinct.

Peter approached Jefferson, extending his right hand to the man, “Hey name’s Spidey-”

“I know who _you_ are,” Jefferson interrupted, “I saw someone post a fight on facebook. Thanks for protecting Miles. . . you’re pretty quick, we got a call about some cultists and by the time our guys came to get the cultists from the subway tunnel you were gone.” Jefferson let out a shaky breath, hugging his son. “I know you came for something, and I owe you one, so what do you need?” Jefferson asked, looking up at them with a smile.

“We need information on your brother, Aaron. You saw what happened in Queens, we think its connected to the cult in some way, it doesn’t make sense for someone who’s gone clean for years to suddenly get a super suit then go on a rampage. Has he been acting weird recently when you see him?”

Jefferson leaned forward slightly, looking down at the ground. “Well, now that you mention it he’s. . . been more on edge as of recent. Getting back into his bad habits. I’ve my wife supervise any visits with Aaron after what happened. And ever since last week he’s been fidgeting and acting like someone’s out to get him. But how’s it related to the cult of Loki?”

Jóżef sat folded his arms as he began speaking, standing up properly. “ Well, we heard Aaron mention that he was trying to ‘protect his family’’ in some way in a confessions room. We think this means that the cult was threatening Miles. It makes the most sense too since Cult members were on the train in the Bronx and were right behind Miles the entire time. Our best guess is that they’re coercing your brother into doing this. It's the only thing that makes sense, so that’s what we’re going with now.”

“Logic ain’t always so logical,” Davis responded. “The only hole in your theory is we haven’t found any traces of the cult in Brooklyn or Queens ever since they got shut down. Thanks, by the way, made my job easier. Lot of paperwork though.” Jefferson let out a sigh, fixing his coat. “I wish we could track down these cultists, they just spring up now. It makes my partners in Manhattan _furious_ beyond end.”

Jóżef chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Funny you should mention that. If I tell you what I know you have to promise to not tell anyone, alright?” When Jefferson gave a nod Jóżef spoke once more, “Me and White Widow investigated a church in the Bronx and we’re pretty sure that the music director, the priest’s deacon, and three other people who share the same last name which begins with an L.”

“Why did you not tell the Bronx department about this? They could have shut down the cult by now!” Jefferson said, clearly aggravated with the ‘hero’ holding back information. He glared at Jóżef, “You don’t make any sense.”

“Sense, like logic, ain’t always so sensical. I couldn’t tell the Bronx department because we need to be a hundred per cent sure who we’re going after and why. We don’t just bust into churches taking names. There could be a lot of people with the letter L at the beginning of their surname. We need more time to investigate,” Jóżef looked into Jefferson’s eyes, meeting the officer’s glare with one of his own.

“Listen, Lieutenant,” Peter said, “We need to work together on this. Do you have a safe place to hide Miles?” Peter questioned, and as Jefferson gave him a nod Peter returned one of his own. “Okay, well if we’re right then your brother won’t go around doing things like this again if he knows you, Miles, and your wife are safe. It’s worth a shot at least.”

Jefferson let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll take them both to a safe house in Brooklyn, that way I can keep an eye on them,” Jefferson fixed his collar. “After that’s done, you and all your friends are helping me with this cult in the Bronx. We’ll talk to Officer DeWolff, I know she’s the one of Aaron’s case, she needs to be involved with this. . . of the books sort of work.”

Peter gave him a supportive finger guns motion. “You got it, now let’s get Miles and your wife to the safe house then we’ll go and talk to Aaron about this. Deal?” he asked, holding his hand out.

“Deal.” Jefferson agreed, shaking Peter’s hand. They had been doing a lot of deals with the police recently, and Jóżef was getting nervous about the entire situation. He rarely enjoyed involving the police with his work. He only ever called the police in if their assistance was absolutely necessary, and with the cult in the Bronx spreading themself so thin it would be easier for Peter and Jóżef to take down.

Peter stretched a bit. “So, we’re taking the car?” Peter asked, “Because my muscles are sore from swinging and fighting all day.” Peter grinned under his mask and knew he had one over Jefferson by the grin the man showed at his words. “The car it is then.”

Jefferson pulled out his phone, calling someone. While the phone rang Jefferson spoke. “Miles, show them to our car.” Jefferson smiled when he heard his wife’s voice on the phone. “Rio, pack an overnight bag—no it's nothing too serious, something’s going down and I need to keep you and Miles under the radar for a little while. . . just for a couple days while we handle this, maybe four. . . yeah, see you soon honey.”

Peter smiled as he got into the cop car, then he stopped. “Wait, no. Jameson will have a field day if anyone sees me in this.” Peter sighed. “Does your dad have a more. . . civilian car? I don’t mind taking the subway if that’s not the case.”

Jóżef reached for Peter’s hand, yawning tiredly. He needed more sleep after this mess. “What about the undercover car?” He asked, looking at Miles, a few bags under his eyes.

“Oh—yeah, right he has one,” Miles said, a bit flustered, running a hand along his head. He led Peter and Jóżef to the undercover car and Peter seemed to be happier once he saw it.

“Now this is more like it!” He got into the back of the car, knowing Miles would take the passenger seat. Peter wrapped an arm around Jóżef, letting the Pole lean on him in exhaustion.; “when this is over we’re taking ninety-eight naps. Okay?”

“Now that’s a deal I can get behind,” Jóżef replied, kissing the top of Peter’s head after lifting his mask slightly. He watched as Jefferson came to the car and got in, “We’re picking Rio up now.” Jóżef watched as the city went by, Brooklyn was his home and he found the contradiction between how people lived, culturally, endlessly interesting. As they came into Queens and arrived at Jefferson’s house Miles got out of the car and into the back seat so Rio could sit in the passenger side.

On their way to the safe house, Miles asked many questions about Jóżef and Peter’s powers, how they made their suits, and trivial things that only a fan would ask: such as favourite colours. _That kid’s gonna do great_. Jóżef thought.

 

_Chapter IV. Rook and Bishop_

Peter was carrying Jóżef on his back as they swung through the city towards the Bronx once more. Peter, of course, swung low when they made it to the bridge so he could cause water to splash on his partner. “Peter, why?” Jóżef said quietly, wiping water from his face with his forearm. As they swung through the Upper Eastside of Manhattan Jóżef spoke once more, “Laney’s calling. . .” He answered the phone, listening to the other man’s words. “ _What?_ How did he get out?! The Bronx police department needs to get itself together!”

“Davis got out didn’t he?” Peter asked, a frown on his face underneath his mask. The eyes of his mask narrowed in a frustrated manner. “They always get out eventually.”

“You’re not wrong, which is why I think prisons are pointless,” Jóżef replied swiftly, grasping on tighter as Peter swung them to the top of a bridge, the sounds of screaming from the Bronx getting louder as Davis made his way towards them.

“How do we fix them then?” Peter asked, setting his left web-shooter to a splitter and his right one to a rapid-fire web.

“We don’t ‘fix’ anything. We get rid of them and replace them with something different.” Jóżef said softly, pulling his bow from his back and a puncture arrow out. He figured the armour Davis wore was thick enough to handle a puncture arrow, after that Jóżef could hopefully break through it with his hands.

“What do you mean, why would we ‘get rid of prisons? We can’t just let villains like Octavius run around If we got rid of prisons we’d have to do something worse to stop them from killing people.” Davis was now at Port Morris

“On the contrary, if we got rid of prisons we could do rehabilitation for things most vile, which involve harming someone else rather than harming inanimate objects.” Davis arrived at the Hamilton and Washington Heights.

“How is that any different to a prison? You’re still locking people up for doing bad things!” Peter emphasized, watching as Davis made it into West Harlem.

“The difference Peter,” Jóżef, like his partner, was watching Davis, marvelling at the fact that he was already in East Harlem, the gadgets and gizmos Davis had were impressive. “Is that a rehab centre doesn’t require the use of violence to correct bad behaviours.”

Jóżef released the tension in the arrow since he had been aiming, growling when the puncture arrow barely made a scratch. “Pete, any plans?”

“Yup!” Peter replied quickly and when Aaron was close enough for the two of them to see the green fire that erupted from the Prowler’s eyes, Peter fired the splitter web. He shot Aaron in the eyes, covering the mask, Peter quickly changed the left web-shooter to rapid fire and began shooting him with webs.

When Aaron was successfully webbed up, Peter’s eyes showed a bit of happiness, “Easy as pie!” It was at that point Peter realised he should have trapped Aaron immediately.

Prowler cut the webs away from himself with his claws, and pulled out a Takoba. The sword had the straightest of edges and was burning with the same aura that a cultist seax would be set ablaze with. Prowler’s mask was emitting a _black_ glow, the green fire like a volcanic eruption. “I shall open you like a sausage, and protect the one I care about.” Prowler dashed forward, dodging and cutting Peter’s webs, he used the scabbard of his sword to block each of Jóżef’s arrows.

Peter jumped back, “Whoa, there dude! I don’t think we need to cut open sausages to reach an understanding,. Let’s not be too hasty!” Peter shot an elastic web at Prowler’s sword, growling when it was hit off by the scabbard, with Jóżef shooting another arrow, making a small dent on the armour. Peter jumped over Prowler and before he could shoot his web Prowler pulled him to the ground with a grappling hook. Another dent was left in Aaron’s armour.

Jóżef growled and continued to fire arrows, “Aaron, you don’t have to fight us, we got Miles, Rio, and Jeff in a safe house, the cult can’t get to them!” Jóżef became wide-eyed as Prowler ran towards him, slashing at him with the sword, causing him to dodge the attack. A lock of Jóżef’s hair fell from the cut that came from Prowler’s sword, “Well now I look horrible.”

“Babe, don’t say that!” Peter called, jumping onto Prowler’s back and when Aaron attempted to attack him Peter shot him on the hand with a web, pulling it to the other side of his body and wrapping the web around the back of his neck. He shot the other hand and did the same and jumped off of Aaron. Prowler caused a bright aura of light to erupt from his entire being, melting the webbing off. “So I have to pull out the heavy stuff on you?”

Prowler turned to Peter and began swinging at him quickly, one could feel the power through the wind of every dodged blow. So mighty were the attacks that one would fear the scabbard itself. While Prowler was distracted Jóżef shot another arrow, looking at how brittle the armour had become.

Jóżef ran towards Prowler, an arrow of light forming as he reached into the quiver. He was planning on using the arrow as a needlepoint point dagger, tried to stab Prowler in the shoulder but he found himself stopped by the man’s wrist meeting his own. Prowler his Jóżef with the pommel of his sword, making him recoil weakly.

As Prowler raised his sword above Jóżef’s head he was tackled by Peter he shot multiple strands of webbing at the cylinders on Prowler’s wrist. Peter tried to punch Aaron in the side and hissed, shaking his hand at the hardness of his armour. “Shadow, what ya got, man?”

Jóżef clenched his teeth, trying to come up with some plan of action in order to capture Prowler once more. “Follow me!” He ran off towards the edge of the building, jumping from one roof to another and as Prowler got up Peter chased after his partner, jumping along each rooftop.

Prowler threw multiple small knives at the duo, the two of them dodged most of them and the ones that hit simply bounced off due to being regular knives. After awhile Prowler stopped throwing knives since he was out.

“What’s the plan?” Peter asked as he ran, grabbing the back of Jóżef’s collar as he swung into the air to make it to another building which was separated by a train track. The two of them landed on the next roof and kept running.

“He’s out of knives so let's get that scabbard away from him, his left side will be defenceless.” Jóżef said, turning around to confront their pursuer as he landed on the roof with them after jumping from atop the train tracks.

“You’ve gotten better at the job.” Prowler mentioned, “But not better than me.”Aaron rushed over at the two of them, attacking Peter with the scabbard while defending himself from Jóżef’s fists.

Peter easily dodged each move, “Thanks for the compliment but I think I’m doing better than you by now!” Peter shot a web at the sword and jumped over Prowler. Not getting yanked from the ground since Aaron was distracted by Jóżef for now.

“Then why haven’t you won yet?” As the scabbard was pulled away from him Davis ducked an attack from his own weapon. He kicked Jóżef away from him and ripped his weapon from Peter’s webbing. “You should learn to stay in your place.” Prowler growled managing to hit Peter with his sword and causing a small tear in Peter’s suit along his torso.

“Well, that’s a trip to the body shop.” Peter dodged once more attack and Jóżef hit Aaron in the back with the hard leather scabbard, making him fall over from the force of the attack.

Prowler growled and swung his sword, cutting the scabbard in half, causing one end to fall onto the roof and the other to catch fire. When Jóżef yelped and began blowing on his fingers from the heat Prowler moved in for an attack, making Peter shoot a web at Aaron’s back. Peter spun Aaron around, and Prowler, too dizzy from the initial spinning, could not fight back. Peter shot a trip mine onto Prowler’s back and threw him from the roof. “ _YEET!_ ”

Peter ran to the edge and shot another web at his torso, forcefully pulling him backwards, the tripmine attached to the wall and Prowler found himself cocooned. Peter crawled down from the roof on top of Aaron. He grabbed the man’s helmet and hit the back of his head against the wall. The helmet protected Aaron’s head but he did, in fact, go unconscious. “We did it!” Peter said, “Seems like those two improv classes came in handy!” He chuckled, putting multiple layers of webbing over Aaron’s body. “All nice and wrapped like a Christmas present for the cops.

Jóżef bent over, panting from exhaustion, soon sitting on the roof, beyond tired from the fight. “We should call Jefferson.” He said, removing his mask and taking his phone out from the pouch, putting it on speaker.

Peter sat by his partner, removing his mask from the slight heat built up from sweating. He leaned on Jóżef’s shoulder, listening to the phone ring.

 _Hi, it’s Jefferson. I’m not at my phone at the moment. Leave me a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you._ Then came the message one. “Jefferson, It’s Red Umbra and Spidey, call us back.” Jóżef looked over to Peter as he hung up. “I wonder what he’s up to.” Jóżef rubbed the back of his head, leaning back and rubbing Peter’s head as his partner leaned on his chest.

“I’ll tell you what I’m up to, napping on this pillow of yours for a half hour. No moving,” Peter chuckled, nuzzling him.

“‘Deal,’” Jóżef said, joking and letting Peter rest on his body, massaging his head comfortingly as he drifted off into a nap. Jóżef stayed awake to tell Felicia and Gwen their plans, detailing the safehouse location.

 

Jefferson was leaning on the wall in DeWolff’s precinct, fixing his hat as he waited for the other officer to come over to him. Jefferson looked over to the main desk, then to the ceiling. He could not believe his son was caught up in this mess.

“Stop staring of into Space, Jeff!” Came Jean’s voice, chuckling up at the slightly taller man. “What’s on your mind?”

“That Spider-Man, I don’t like how he keeps info from us,” Jefferson said calmly, getting off of the wall and placing his hands on his hips, “Makes me think he’s up to something.”

“Like the church?” Came Laney’s voice, folding his arms as he approached DeWolff and Jefferson.

“Yeah, like the church,” Jefferson replied, looking over to the other officer.

“Like what?” DeWolff asked, confused.

“The church lead, he thinks many cult members in the Bronx are in this one church. You weren’t told?”

DeWolff seemed offended by this, “No, they didn’t tell me anything,” She replied, “Why wasn’t I kept in the loop about this?” She questioned, one eyebrow arched in curiosity.

“Maybe they don’t trust you?” Laney said curiously, clearly angering DeWolff further. “Listen, we shouldn’t be relying on them in the first place for things like this. This is _our_ job. So how about this: We get in some undercover gear and do some off the books work. We’ll do what he can’t and find some proof that the cultists are involved with the church and we’ll get some credit without them.”

DeWolff sighed, holding the bridge of her nose. “Fine,” She muttered. “If things go south we stick together and get out of there as soon as possible.”

Jefferson gave a nod of agreement. “I’m in, time for some good old detective work.” Jefferson, headed out of the precinct.

The three officers had not thought through all of their options, desiring to make Spider-Man’s partner eat his own words after he frequently talked against Laney; Jefferson desired a win against the cult after the duo of heroes had taken the Brooklyn Investigation by themselves with little help from the police; DeWolff wanted to get her boss off of her back and be done with the danger being brought to the Bronx. As a result, they found themselves in typical civilian clothes. Exchanging cell phone numbers while making sure to turn their ringers off in order to prevent rousing suspicion.

The church was having a service at around seven at night and it was already six. The officers imagined that if they snuck into the church early they could find all the evidence they needed to put any cultists they found away for good. No one would be the wiser, it would be reported as an anonymous tip to the DeWolff, but the superheroes and the three officers would know who was truly responsible for putting the Bronx sect of the cult away.

DeWolff entered through the back door which Laney mentioned the cultists used, the other officers followed behind DeWolff, since she was the First Grade Detective amongst them and knew the area better than the other two.

The choir was practising off in one of the rooms and the sweet hymns in the name of Christ reverberated through the whole of the church. The parish priest was in another room speaking with the woman he had married before becoming ordained, along with his deacon. The sound of jazz music came from one room along with a shredder voicing itself just barely.

The three officers split up, planning on investigating the noises individually once they believed it to be safe. As DeWolff made her way into the room with the jazz music she saw a woman wearing a full black bodysuit sneaking around inside as well, moving along the ceiling to remain hidden. There was a man in the room as well, he had a bald head. DeWolff hid behind one of the desks close to her as the man turned around from a small device being thrown to the ground, making a gentle and quiet chirping noise.

DeWolff moved to the edge of the table as the man approached in order to pick up the little beeper, she turned the corner of the desk just in time to miss the man’s eyes. One eye was a striking blue colour and the other was the colour of milk. She looked to her right, noticing the name tag on his desk. _James Patrick_. While James was busy looking behind the desk DeWolff saw the woman in the black bodysuit lower down with a rope, opening one of the drawers. She seemed to desperately fiddle around inside of it, wanting to find something specific. James held the little cat icon in his hand, putting it in his pocket for proof at a later date.

Devolved turned the corner in the opposite way carefully as James went back to his desk, limping with every step that he took. DeWolff glared up at the woman on the ceiling, making her way out of Patrick's office. She needed to find that woman and the files she had, especially if they had incriminating evidence of Patrick regarding the cult.

As she entered the main room once more her eyes were graced with beautiful wooden pews, pamphlets of information on songs for the members of mass to join in on, kneelers, and bibles so that members of the church could read Scripture when instructed to. DeWolff found the woman in black hovering above the massive crucifix in at the head of the room, the altar at the forefront where oils and containers of the Eucharist lie.

There was a small white marble tank of Holy Water, a small statue of the mother of Christ, Mary, hovering over it like a protector. The altar was made of the same white marble-like substance and there were stairs that led up to the floor where the parish priest spike, right under the crucifix. DeWolff checked the time, it was exactly six-fifteen. She snuck her way towards the crucifix, trying to get into contact with the woman who wore the full body suit at least. It felt like a game of ridiculous hide and seek.

DeWolff stood properly once she arrived at the crucifix. She folded her arms as she looked to the woman. “What are you doing here?” She questioned, keeping her arms folded.

“Hey there,” she responded, coming down using her grappling guns to come down easily. “The better question is what are you doing here, little piggy?” She questioned.

DeWolff faces an eye roll. “Act a little more mature miss hero and tell me what you're doing here.” DeWolff's voice was stern, demanding to know exactly what this little spy was up to.

Soon enough the woman answered after a brief moment of contemplation, “I've got my reasons for thinking this guy is a Lokian Cultist. Listen, you follow my lead and I'll give you a couple ‘tips’ on him if you know what I mean.”

DeWolff looked down at her watch once more, six-eighteen, she did not have time for this girl's games. “Listen, just tell me what's in the folder and we'll call it a day. I gotta be in those rooms by the time mass starts and you're holding me up.”

The woman gave a small smirk behind her mask. “Name's Black Cat. You've got moxie, lady. What's your name?” Felicia already knew what was in the folder, she had found a note written from someone named Father L. It said:

_Brother P., thank you for the interesting reading recommendations on Loki, I have thoroughly enjoyed them and have found a way to integrate them into the sermon. The church is a fine-tuned body under your humble service, I am grateful for your allegiance to the cause of Loki through this church -Father L._

Felicia had already taken a picture of it, and she truly did not need it. So to appease the officer she simply handed Detective DeWolf the slip of paper.

“I'm Detective DeWolff,” She took the paper and hid it in her back pocket. “thanks for the help,” DeWolff crouched back down, making her way behind the crucifix as a door opened up, the parish priest coming out of it.

“Anything to help a sister out,” Felicia said with a smirk on her face as she went back to the ceiling, easily hiding up there as the parish priest put on his robes to be prepared for the ceremony. It was now half past six.

 

Once it was seven DeWolff found herself in the small choir room, walking around carefully as she looked for any evidence at all of the director or a singer being involved in the cult. As she examined the books of hymns she found that each one looked identical, save for the directors. Why did his specific letters outlined in pencil under half the hymns? She grabbed a hold of the book of hymns, folding it in accordance with each letter, narrowing her eyes at what she eventually found to be a message which could be read properly under the artificial lights in the room.

_Dearest Father L., As your sister by blood, and your daughter in the Faith of our Lord Loki, I feel it necessary to inform you that your wife is pregnant. What a blessing from the Lord you have! May he provide you with many fruitful years of Fatherhood, praise be to Loki - Sister T. L._

DeWolff took a picture of this message and hid the hymnal book in her coat. She texted with the other officers to see of they had found any extra information and it turned out that they had both found the remaining messages from the cult members. The two other officers sent her the messages they had found.

_Sister M. L., as the Wife of the Father I'm sure that our Father has informed you of the plan to attack soon. It will be required since the specimen failed to eliminate Spider-Man and his sidekick. It is such a shame that Aaron Davis failed to fulfil his duty against the vermin that attack us, we were certain it would work! While the attack goes on I will lead our remaining men. -Brother P._

_Ah yes, Brother, The Father told me of this plan and I signed off on it in agreement with him. It will be necessary to arm the men with proper weaponry rather than simple blades this time. I have signed off on the shipment of carbines and pistols, the warriors of Loki shall have the finest in equipment for their fight with the two heroes, and in the end, not only will they die but these newest vermin, the ones who call themselves White Widow and Black CAT, shall meet their timely extermination. There is no more room for bugs nor house Peter in the Bronx. -Sister M. L._

_Brother P., you are quite the gifted warrior, I know that much from your combat in the Iraq war. I am honoured to have someone of your skill lead this operation against the safe house so that we may retrieve Morales and enable Davis to. . . function. While I perform mass tonight you and Brother P. are to lead the assault. Do not fail me or the All other, I have my faith in you. -Father L._

When DeWolff read the last note her eyes went wide, they were planning on leading an assault on a warehouse in Brooklyn, they had been played! The cultists knew they would be occupied with finding evidence to incriminate them, and of course, they had it but there was the chance they now had Jefferson's son, which was something they could not risk.

DeWolff exited through one of the doors of the choir room, going through the back. She met Jefferson and John outside, looking at them nervously. “Where did Black Cat go?”

Jefferson was already getting into the car. “I don't know but hurry up DeWolff we've got a job to do!” Jefferson started up the car after struggling with inconvenient flooding.

John looked at DeWolff, “Let's hustle.” He got into the car, going into the backseat while DeWolff took the passenger side.

Jefferson turned on the police siren, the screaming of the car sending pangs of fear through the streets of New York City. Jefferson was speeding at this point, driving through the Bronx as quickly as he could. As Jefferson drove into Whitestone from the bridge he had just crossed. He does through Whitestone.

DeWolff made sure her seat belt was properly on with the speed Jefferson was going. She didn't find it appropriate to tell him to slow down. She was contemplating where she had gone wrong, where had she slipped and lost her foresight of the situation? Where had Jefferson lost his own foresight on this?

DeWolff made sure her pistol was fully loaded as they entered Brooklyn, still speeding towards their destination of the safehouse. They drove through several Brooklyn neighbourhoods as thru finally arrived at their destination, a massive hole burned into the side of the wall.

There were four or five cultists entering and as Jefferson got out of the car a loud bang broke through the world's stillness. Screaming erupted from the house. The screaming of a male teenager and a woman. Jefferson had fired the first shot and sent a cultist off to the void or two the hands of a human doctor.

Jefferson saw several dozen cultists emerge from the bushes around the safehouse, all armed with some sort of Geirr, Carolingian, Scramasax, or Seax.

 

_Chapter V. Operation: Cast Iron_

Ninety-Three masked men were approaching the safe house, being led by two men, the Deacon and Patrick. Patrick was grasping an arming sword, flames manifesting from them as he walked towards the side of the building. “Prepare for the ambush.” He said, raising his left arm and allowing the cultists to disperse amongst themselves into the bushes. The initial assault group was five men, armed with geirrs, save for the two commanders of the group.

Patrick stabbed his sword _through_ the brick wall of the safehouse. Patrick began cutting a large hole into the building and soon pulled it out, using the labour of three cultists to lower it without causing a scene. When Patrick entered the building with Smith one of the cultists found their geirr ripped from their hands, the counterweight of the spear coming down on their head.

Gwendolyn glared behind her mask and moved out of the way as a cultist attempted to thrust a spear into her, they immediately found themself pinned to a wall by a wide two-pronged arrow. Gwen jumped back from another attack and several webs took a hold of her next attacker, yanking them into the air, shooting enough webs to form them into a cocoon and stick them to a nearby wall. A grappling line came down and Gwen grabbed a hold of it, swinging at another cultist, making them fall.

Jóżef came down, shooting a bean bag round at one of them, making them fall. Felicia came down from a nearby building and gave one of the attackers a kick, bringing the current count of the initial attack group down to zero. The four heroes ran into the building, ascending the flight of stairs which led to a hallway of room. They found Smith and Patrick in the hallway.

Patrick’s mask was emitting a flame similar to the one Aaron had emitted from his helmet. He raised his arming sword and brought it down to the wood, causing a ripple to go through the floor, little formations of ripping wood springing.

The Jóżef and Felicia were protected by their web-slingers, who had got onto the wall and pulled them up to avoid the attack. As Patrick pulled his sword from the floor he stabbed it into the wall to his right, sending a trail of holy blue fire at Gwen and Felicia. Gwendolyn crawled to the roof and set Felicia down on the ground, Felicia tried to shoot Patrick’s legs with her grappling guns but Smith blocked her by placing his sword between the lines and the fellow commander.

In the confusion, Jóżef shot an arrow at Smith, piercing through his shoulder. He sighed when Smith simply looked over to him, eyes glowing with a purple flame. Smith brought his sword into the wall near Jóżef and Peter, sending ripples through the wall, making it possible for the two heroes to get stabbed. Jóżef and Peter managed to escape the attack, rolling onto the floor. Peter shot two webs at Smith’s sword, trying to yank it from him. Instead, he was pulled forward, Jóżef grabbed a hold of Peter in order to prevent him from being pulled to the other man. Jóżef pulled out his pistol, shooting a pepper spray round at them. He glared at Smith as he caught the pepper spray round and prevented it from bursting. “ _Mother F-_ ” Jóżef started before another attack was sent to the ground. Jóżef got to the side of one of the walls and pulled out his bow, shooting arrow after arrow while Gwen moved in to attack Patrick.

The two men stepped back, putting distance between themselves and the heroes. Patrick placed his hand on the wall, a sort of corrosion forming on the concrete wall. Smith cut the hinges off of the last door, making it fall down while Patrick continued to distract the two heroes.

There came a gunshot and a loud scream from Rio and Miles in the room that Smith entered. Gwen decided that tackling Patrick would make things go by a lot smoother, so she did. Her body flew through the air and she brought Patrick to the floor, punching at his face and only managing to hit the floor as he moved his head to avoid each hit.

Peter stayed behind to help Gwen handle Patrick, with Felicia and Jóżef going to take down Smith. As the two entered the room they were greeted with the sight of Miles standing over his mother with Smith holding up a sword in an attempt to kill Rio.

Felicia shot her grappling gun and stole the sword from Smith, making him turn around and glare at the both of them behind his mask. He slammed his hands onto the ground, making planks of wood erupt from the surface. Felicia got onto the ceiling and Jóżef dove out of the way, grasping the arming sword Smith had been using in his hand.

Jóżef dashed forward, hitting Smith in the shoulder with the pommel of his sword. He grasped the blade of the sword, swinging the guard at Smith who caught a hold of it, Smith pulled the sword away from Jóżef’s hands and tried to stab at him, Felicia grabbing him by the legs and making him fall. Jóżef jumped back from the sword and as he was going to step on Smith’s hand he saw webs cover his hands then his arms. Jóżef looked over in the direction the webs had come from, grinning at Miles, “You go, my guy!” Jóżef held up his right hand and Miles gave him a hesitant but enthusiastic high-five.

Miles walked over to Smith and shot webs all over him, pinning him to the ground, watching as Jóżef kicked the sword off to the side. Felicia stayed behind to make sure Smith did not get away while Rio and her son grabbed their things.

Jóżef walked out into the hallway and smirked behind his mask at the sight of Patrick on the ground, struggling with his hands behind his back. Patrick’s mask was off, making him scowl at everyone around him. “My, my, my, the mighty imperialist is finally on the ground.”

“Piss off, commie!” Patrick replied, wiggling around as if he was a worm, trying to free himself from the webbing. Jóżef simply let out a chuckle, which was swiftly put down as the sound of breaking glass came from the room Rio and Miles were in. Jóżef ran into the room and saw Felicia, Miles, and Smith gone, the window was broken in.

Jóżef sighed before jumping out the window as well, rolling as he made it to the ground. He looked to his right, seeing Felicia run towards one of the remaining cultists, there were eighty-eight of them left, and Felicia had just taken one down, making the count decrease.

Jóżef saw Smith pinned to the wall in a cocoon and heard a loud war cry from his left. He went towards the sound, knowing Felicia could handle herself, he saw Miles swinging around, kicking cultists and holding a geirr he had taken from one of their hands.

Jóżef grinned, Miles as a newbie so he decided to pull out his bow and shoot cultists with knockout arrows. He knew Miles would need help even though he seemed tonne handling the situation well. Jóżef used his pistol every once in a while to send pepper spray in an area Miles had not reached. Jozef’s glasses formed as he pulled out the little spring loaded weapon Peter had given him as a trophy from the fight with Acharya.

He held the Trishula in his hand, his glasses forming as he ran into the skirmish of confused cultists temporarily blinded by pepper spray. Jóżef used the counterweight of the Trishula to fight the cultists, knocking them down while working with Miles who was sending webs in every direction.

As the smoke cleared with most of the cultists on the ground (bringing the count to seventy-one), Jóżef gave Miles a thumbs up and ran off towards Felicia, where she saw Gwen's white-clothed legs kicking cultists down. He put the Trishula on his back and took his bow, as he aimed he suddenly heard Jefferson's voice calling out with John Laney and DeWolff. He took the tension out of the bow and moved the arrow into his palm. Jóżef dashed over to the group of cultists, stabbing one of them in the shoulder with the arrow.

The Polish man put his bow on his back and took out the Trishula, the geirr getting caught in one of the prongs of the weapon. Jóżef brought the geirr down and kicked the cultist away from him, as five of them came to attack him from behind he was saved by three of the spider drones.

Peter gave his partner a thumbs up before he dodged an attack from a Carolingian sword. Peter shot his Webb's at the sword and threw it into a crowd, knocking out one of the cultists and cracking their mask in the process. Peter’s drones flew around, tasing cultists left and right.

As the number of people reached fifty-six several cop cars arrived, officers exiting their cars with shotguns or pistols in hand. They were ill-equipped for the cultists who managed to dodge the bullets, eventually getting into hand to hand combat with the cultists, hitting them with the butt ends of their firearms. There were two of them who had easily gotten stabbed by seaxes. Before they could be killed Peter shot webs at the attackers and carried the two officers away.

DeWolff was shooting her pistol, sending many cultists to the ground in her own defence while Laney stayed at her back, covering her. The two of them protecting one another as the cultists continued to move in. Jefferson was also shooting at them as he entered the safe house, walking past Patrick who was still on the floor hastily. He was happy to find his wife but exasperated when he had to go back down into the fight in order to find his son who was still fighting cultists.

Miles sprung into the air, shooting webs all over the place and sending five cultists to the walls or onto the ground. Miles seemed to be learning his powers as if he was riding a bike, being careful get dangerous. Of course, Miles was eager and did not know exactly how to handle his powers entirely, so in the middle of cracking jokes, he accidentally shot a web at Jóżef, sticking his hand to the Trishula he was wielding. “SORRY!” He called out, swinging over swiftly to rip the natural webbing off of Jóżef's hand.

“You're good!” Jóżef replied encouragingly, and as his hand was freed he hit a cultist in their stomach with the counterweight of his Trishula. Soon enough he was relying on his feet in tandem with the weapon.

“This is so cool!” Miles said as he continued shooting webs. He jumped into the air several times in the fight; using his new found super strength and agility to lift the cultist into the air and throw them down onto the ground, shooting multiple webs at him till he stuck to the ground. He used this move in various ways, he would shoot a cultist multiple times, making them get wrapped up, he would then jump into the air, lift the cultist, then throw them onto the ground, making them already stick to the ground.

Jóżef covered himself as Miles shot webs in every direction once more, getting rid of the crowd that was surrounding them. “I know right! I'll have to talk to you about this later!”

“And I'll have to train you!” Peter called out, shooting webs at a cultist and bringing them to his body as he got on his back, his feet on the cultist's chest, he kicked the cultist towards a group, dispersing them. “‘Steer-ike!’” He mocked as he got back up, quickly, an officer shot one of the cultists approached him.

There were around thirty cultists left now, “Are the glowing eye memes going to run away now?” Peter asked, dodging one of them before he ticked them in the stomach, “ _Hoi!_ ” Peter smirked as the cultist fell and he pursued five of them who were fleeing.

He swung ahead of them and grabbed a mailbox with his webs, he threw the mailbox in front of them and swung towards the five, kicking one of them down and lending behind the other four one of his drones buzzed over and he fought alongside it, using his gymnastic skills to slide through one of their legs and give a backwards kick that brought him to his feet. Peter shot webs at the last one and made his way back to the massive fight.

There were only twenty left and four of them had successfully escaped. There were twenty-one cultists left to take down. Jóżef was busy hitting as many of them as he could with the Trishula before he was pinned down to the ground by two of them, one of them trying to stab Jóżef, the Polish man barely escaping with another cut of his hair. He was rescued by Gwen who shot an impact web at each cultist, sticking them to the wall.

A few officers were hitting cultists with the butt of their guns, DeWolff and Laney had managed to find a way to shoot at cultists by using one as a distraction and the other would fire in a well-timed manner. There was more than a few puddles of blood, and plenty of unconscious bodies, on the ground.

Felicia was using her claws to cut cultists in the least lethal areas, smirking as they fell to the ground, grasping at their torsos or legs. When she noticed the time she found it to be eight-forty-six, meaning mass would be ending soon.

Miles swung through the air and grabbed a cultist by the collar, lifting them and throwing them at a couplet of cultists. The cult members managed to avoid being hit and charged at Miles, but before they could attack Peter was charging over, putting his weight into his shoulder to make them fly to the side. One of them stood back up and got into a melee with Peter.

There were several attempted quick stabs with a geirr used with a shield. The cultist charged at Peter in an attempt to knock him down, only for Peter to dodge the attack and shoot webs at the shield. Peter stole the shield using his powers and threw the massive discus at a cultist and hitting them in the stomach, making them fly back and hit the wall. Peter landed on his feet and sprung into another attack, taking down another one of the cultists with ease, kicking them in the should and making them lose balance. Peter grabbed their arm and tossed them into the air, shooting plenty of webs at them. He tanked them down to the ground.

Jóżef shot an arrow at a cultist as Peter looked over his shoulder and saw said cultist running towards him. There were twelve cultists now and that number fell to eleven as Jefferson shot another cultist. As Miles performed a People's Elbow on one of them the first ambulance arrived, then a second. This was a way to prevent themselves from being caught up in the danger, but eventually, more medics came due to the number of bodies on the ground.

Felicia threw Gwen towards a group of five and Gwen shot trip mines onto two of them, wrapping up a totality of four cultists, she kicked the last of the group in the head, making them fall. Peter and Jóżef were busy taking care of the last five of the cultists.

Peter picked up his partner and tossed him at a cultist as if he were a projectile battering ram. “Fly away missile!” Peter said, breaking into laughter as one of the cultists let out something similar to a Wilhelm Scream when Jóżef’s head hit them in the stomach, making them fall. Jóżef stood up and used the handle of his Trishula to block a Carolingian, one of the cultists managed to slice his calf, making him take a knee. “ _Oh, shí-_ ” Peter started before springing into action, kicking a cultist away from his partner, utilizing multiple kick moves to send cultists flying.

There were three of them but they did not back down, instead, they continued their assault, all of them focused on Peter while Jefferson, DeWolff, Laney, Miles, Felicia, and Gwen caught their breath. The three cultists charged at Peter with a spear and he ducked to avoid the stabs, getting low on the ground as one of them swung their geirr in an attempt to cut Peter while the rest distanced themselves from the radius of the attack. Peter managed to get behind the cultist and shot their feet, yanking them onto the ground. Peter picked up the geirr and stepped on the attacker’s back. He looked at the other two and taunted them with a ‘ _come at me, bastard_ ’ motion. Peter smirked under his mask as one of them ran towards him, backed up by the other.

Peter slid on the ground, hitting the first one in the legs with the counterweight of the geirr, he jumped up and tripped the other one with the pole of the weapon. He spun the geirr in his hand and while the cultist got up, still perplexed from falling on their face, the attacker stumbled towards Peter with their geirr still in hand.

Peter laughed as he avoided the attack he was given once more and he kicked the cultist in the back of the head, making them fall on their side, “Too easy. Now, last man standing, want to give yourself up or are we doing this the hard way?” Peter sighed and spoke as the cultist began charging at him. “Hard way it is, kiddo!”

Peter tossed the geirr to the side and as the cultist got close enough Peter grabbed the geirr by the blade, stopping it mid-attack. He grabbed the cultist’s shoulder and vaulted over them, kicking them in the back and sending them flying into the wall of the safe house due to the force of his attack. He winced a bit at the sight of impact, “That’s a concussion.”

He padded over to Jóżef who was sitting on the ground, extending a hand to him. “Let’s get you up big guy,” When Jóżef took Peter’s hand the web-slinger lifted his partner up, placing his hand on Jóżef’s back. He helped Jóżef over to one of the large stones where he could properly sit. “I’ve got to go after the three other cult leaders. . . don’t get into any more trouble.” Peter smirked when the man who was two years his senior gave an eye roll from that.

“We gotta find those carbines,” DeWolff said calmly, standing properly now that the coast was clear.

“Carbines?” Peter asked, a sort of nervousness show in his eyes.

“Yeah, the note mentioned they’d have carbines, but they only used blades.” DeWolff wiped a bit of sweat from her head, still exhausted.

“I think I know where those might be.” Peter said as he put two and two together if they really had carbines, and if the police had been played like a fiddle into believing they would be here, then that meant the weapons would be in the church.

Peter shot a web towards a tall building and headed off towards the Queens Borough where he would make his way across the bridge and go to the Bronx. The web-slinger was beyond eager to get the three cult leaders in the church and the four cultists who had escaped.

Ned eventually arrived at the scene of reported gunfire, carrying his camera and notepad to write his article. He talked to the officers first but they had ‘no comment’ on the situation.

While Ned was busy talking to the officers Jóżef leaned in to talk to Miles, “You’ve got to go help Spider-Man,” His eyes were full of a sort of fear, his biggest fear was losing Peter because he was too injured to do anything to prevent it.

“You don’t trust him to get the job done?” Miles asked, and when he saw how Jóżef looked at him sternly he gulped, “okay, but how am I supposed to help, I don’t think I’ve got enough protection to fight in a church.”

Jóżef shook his head and held out a small device which formed into a backpack, “You do now, just be careful, there’s not much vibranium in it, it's a prototype I was making for Peter but I think you’ll need it more than he ever will.”

Miles gave a nod, “I’ll do whatever I can!” He put on the backpack and ran behind the safehouse, followed by his father who followed him, “Dad?” Miles asked as he pulled the straps of the backpack and felt the nanotechnology mould over his body into an all-black outfit.

As Jefferson spoke the red webbing began to form on Miles’ chest with red fingers and black web patterns going around his now red fingers. “Miles, you’re _not_ going to that church, powers or no powers, I’m not putting your life at risk.” Jefferson approached his son, looking into his eyes as the mask began to form over his face, the white lenses covering Miles’ eyes.

“Dad, you know I gotta go, I’m sorry but I gotta do something. Gifts like these powers are meant to help people, this is where I start helping people like you do with the badge on,” Miles moved past his father, the suit tightening in order to fit his body properly, “Now, I gotta go, wish me luck!” Miles shot a web and swung away in the middle of his father’s words.

“You’re grounded!” Jefferson called out and narrowed his eyes when his son responded that he could live with it. Before he could chase after his son the paramedics made him sit down so they could tend to the few wounds he had.

“He’s gonna do fine,” Jóżef said, looking over to Jefferson. He wound up the Trishula and put it away in his suit once more, “We all start out young,” Jóżef knew his partner was going to have a mini freak out when Miles showed up, decked out in a web-slinger’s suit and started fighting against cult members. But, like Miles, he could live with that.

 

_Chapter VI. Action Match_

Peter landed at a building near the church once the clock hit nine-fifty-five. He looked over the possible entrances to the parish, Karen telling him of every possible route there was and detailing that there were exactly seven individuals inside of the church. “Thanks, Karen, could you do a bit of recon and tell me what arms they have.” Peter watched the Spider-Drone fly off of his chest and inside of the Parish, looking through its eyes through his Head-Up Display.

Miles sat next to Peter as he climbed onto the building, making Parker jump in surprise. “Whoa, Spidey, cool it!” He pulled his mask off, a small nervous grin on his face, “It’s just me!” He then listened to Peter give a similar rant about safety his father had given him. “Listen, Spidey, I’m gonna tell you what I told my dad, I’m going in. And I’m especially going in because Red Shadow sent me.”

Peter seemed taken aback, he stared down at Miles, one of the eyes twitching, he started, “He _what_ ? I’m gonna beat his _a_ -”

“Spidey, look, I’ve got stuff now, let me _help_ , I’m not going anywhere,” Miles stated defiantly, folding his arms. The drone feed was on the top right of his own Head-Up Display, the suits were all linked to each A.I., Miles noticed the heavy armour the guards were wearing, something clearly stolen from Chitauri remains. “Are you gonna let me fight now? Because you can’t handle seven of those things on your own.”

Peter glared and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Fine, but stay behind me and follow my move, understand, I can’t let you get hurt on my watch,” Peter shot a web at the church deciding to go through the front window, “Try to keep up!” He called as he jumped from the roof and swung towards the church, as he made it to the window Peter lifted it using the adhesive abilities of his spider-powers, climbing in.

Miles followed him quickly, speaking on the private comms channel they had been using, “So, can I call you something other than ‘Spidey’ since you’re gonna be my teacher, I mean you know my real identity.” Miles crawled along the ceiling, tailing after Peter who was focused on one of the four armoured guards who had a carbine in their hand a sword at their side.

The Spider-Man sighed before responding, “Just call me ‘Peter’ when we aren’t fighting people, call me ‘Spidey’ during things like this,” He descended on the armoured guard and as Peter webbed them into a cocoon, taking the carbine from them letting them fall down onto the ground, the web-slinger smirked. “Ten points.” He said calmly, folding his arms.

The guard’s body seemed to suddenly heat up and the webbing corroded off of the armour, allowing the guard to stand up and pull their sword out. Peter went wide eyes and dodged the first attempted cut. As he continued to shoot webs at the guard, said webs continued to corrode and melt off of their armour. Another swing was brought and Peter tried to rip the sword away from them with his webs. Instead, the webs were burned right through and he was forced to dodge again.

Miles, noticing this, realized that attempting to fight with his natural webbing would be fruitless. He swung down from the ceiling and kicked the attacker in the back, making them hit a wall.

The cultist stood properly once more and charged at Miles, trying to thrust their sword into the young man's body. Miles dodged the attack by getting onto the ceiling with a jump.

Miles dove down and punched the attacker in their face but the mask they wore was virtually undamaged. He spoke with one of the A.I.s he was acquainted with, Karen. “Are there any gaps in the armour that I could exploit?” He asked, avoiding another slash by dodging to the left.

“The power back on their back, if you use the electric magnetic pulse blast in your glove it should temporarily short out and you will be able to pull it out,” After thanking her, Miles looked through the functions in his gloves that appeared, he pressed one of the fingers on his gloves and red sparks began to twitch around his hand, electricity sparking along them. He shot a web at the cultist’s face and yanked his way over to the cultist, Miles delivered a powerful punch to their chest and sent them flying.

Peter let out a sudden cry of pain, holding the right side of his face, “ _FUCK!_ ” he moved his hand and half of his face was exposed, his mask had been sizzled off by the sword flying out of the cultist’s hand, luckily the damage would heal and leave no scars.

Miles looked over in terror before he dashed over to the cultist and ripped the power pack off, tossing it to the side and shooting multiple webs at it as the device began glowing. The blast was luckily contained but Peter still seemed to be in great pain, “I’m so sorry!” Miles said as he ran over.

“Stop, just stop. It’s fine,” It was not fine, Peter’s burns, while ultimately without consequence, were still painful. The nanotech replaced itself over his face, a layer of vibranium was gone. He rubbed over the affected area carefully before a woman in a mask, with a karambit in her left hand a seax in her right, accompanied by someone in armour, came into the room. “Kid, you take the armour, I’ll get the woman.”

“Right!” Miles replied, jumping to the ceiling quickly before he dove down, landing on top of the armoured attacker. He attacked their face with several punches, the mask barely cracking before he was pushed off with the cultist clambering on top of them. Miles raised his legs and kicked the cultist off of him, he sprung up and punched the attacker in the chest, sending them falling through the floor. Miles ripped the power pack off, bringing it up to his floor by yanking it. He shot multiple webs at ut and kicked it to the corner, the little ball off webs releasing a harsh puff and plenty of black smoke. Miles looked through the hole he had created and shot multiple webs at the attacker until they were finally webbed to the floor.

Peter dodged an attack from the karambit and shot a web at the Carolingian sword, grasping it in his hand. While Peter held her wrist to prevent an attack from the karambit he swung the Carolingian and caught himself in a bind with the woman. That was a particularly close call, the guard of the sword protecting him. He shoved the woman back and made the karambit fall, he shot a web at it and yanked it towards himself so the woman could not grab it.

“I’ll kill you Spider-Man, and your Kid Arachnid!” She said, charging at Peter with her sword emitting a purple flame. Peter got ready to parry her attack but she suddenly slid under his legs and sat on a knee, hitting the floor with her sword and making sharp planks of wood spring up like crabgrass.

Peter vaulted to the side and fell on his rear from the surprise of the attack. He shot webs at the woman and yanked them, making her fall. He stood back up with the help of the sword and he approached her in a readied position. “Kid, go get the rest of those juggernauts!” Peter ordered, dodging an attack from the cultist.

“It’s Kid Arachnid to you!” Miles replied as he ran out of the room, finding himself rather fond of the new alias he was given, sure he would be seen as a sidekick, but he could eventually rise to be Peter’s equal, he knew he would just have to work twice as hard, as his father told him.

Miles ran into a room which was down the stairs and found three people in there, a woman with a spear, and two armoured guards. Miles charged up his fists and charged at the two armoured enemies. He jumped into the air and brought his fists down upon them, sending them to the floor. When he was about to rip the power packs off a spear came at him, making him jump to the side. He went wide-eyed and jumped over the woman as she came at him once more, dodging the attack. Miles shot webs at her and pulled her down to the ground, as one of the armoured guards tried to sit up he shot webs at them. He ripped one of the power packs off and shot a flurry of webs at it, throwing it at the woman with a spear.

Miles glared as she dodged the attack and he gave a flip backwards to avoid her spear. Eventually the two guards up, the only measurable difference between them being that one could melt away webs. Miles let out a groan before charging up his fists once more, swinging over to one of them with great speed, sending them flying through a wall and directly out of the church. “Talk about a strike. . .”

Miles felt a tingle in his head and jumped, flying backwards and landing on his feet in a crouching position with a hand on the ground. He saw the woman with the spear in front of him, this caused him to shot two webs and yank her back. He ran over to the hole in the wall and shot webs at the guard who had fallen, sticking them to the ground outside.

Miles turned back to his other two distractions, watching as Peter finally ran in and kicked the woman from behind, making her fall forward easily.

The woman sprung to her feet and managed to trip Peter with her spear by outpacing him. She out her spear to his neck, “Stay down, bug,” She ordered, the eyes of her mask lighting up with a pink flame to emphasize her point.

From the corner of the room, Peter saw the clock, ten-twenty-five. “Okay, okay, I’m cool!” He said, his arms lying at his side.

Miles was still busy with the other guard, shooting them with multiple webs as a distraction before he punched the attacker, making them fly through the room and hit the person who had a spear to Peter’s neck, “Good job, Arachnid!” Peter said, relief flooding over him while Miles pulled the power pack off and shot multiple webs at it, making it form into a little ball which he threw at the two attackers.

Miles smirked behind his mask before the woman stood, her spear still in hand. “Do they always make you feel bad when they get back up?” He asked, looking over at Peter with an arched eyebrow.

“Only every now and then. Care to do the honours?” Peter asked as he placed his hands on his hips while the woman limped towards them, ready to attempt another fight with the two web-slingers.

Miles gave a grin under his mask before he bowed properly. “Don't mind if I do,” He shot webs at the walls and went backwards, making an improvised slingshot. He built up the tension in the human slingshot and flew at the woman.

She slammed her burning spear into the floor and made planks of wood rise up. Her eyes getting wide when she missed her target. She was met with Miles' fist in her face, the great impact shattering her wooden mask and making her fall back.

Miles approached her slowly, shooting webs at the guard who was knocked out now to make sure they did not get back up. He walked over to the woman, her face petrified in fear, making him smirk. He decided to play a game, beginning a Prayer. He kicked the spear to the side, “Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia,  
el Señor es contigo-”

He shot a web at her left foot, humming as he continued to say the Spanish prayer his mother had taught him. “Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,  
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús,” Miles shot another web soon, at her right foot this time.

“Santa María, Madre de Dios,” He webbed her hands to the floor and began to carefully shoot webs at her body in order to wrap her into a cocoon. “Ruega por nosotros pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte,” he finished wrapping her up in the little cocoon, humming as he finished his prayer.

“Amen,” Miles stretched. “There's one lef- wait, do you hear that?” Miles asked, and the sound of gospel music began to reverberate through the whole of the church. Miles narrowed his eyes as he walked out of the room and down a set of stairs with Peter following behind him. Miles walked to the door from which the music originated. He readied his foot and kicked the door down.

Inside was the Parish Priest, sitting with a glass of gin at his desk and a Chitauri blaster on his arm. “So, the bill comes due,” The priest finished his gin before setting the glass to the side. “I hope you know I'm not going down easily you heretics.”

Peter narrowed his eyes and his Spidey-Sense began tingling. He grabbed Miles by the shoulders and dove to the left as a purple bolt of energy flew past them. Peter shot an impact web which hit the muzzle of the blaster and as the priest tried to shoot once more Peter covered Miles with his body, a flurry of lasers moving around before a small explosion was heard. Peter stood up weakly after, finding the back of his head laid bare, and a small bald spot noticeable.

He walked over to the priest, looking down at the man whose arm had blown off. He folded his own arms and sighed, “Damn fool,” Thankfully the priest was still alive, Peter took a knee and put webs over the sound to stabilize it. “I hope you've learned your lesson,” Peter looked at the clock in the room, “it only took thirty mi idea for you to mess up like this.”

Peter turned to Miles and held his shoulders again. “Come on, let's get going. The Police will clean this mess up.”

Miles walked out of the room, asking a question soon. “What do you think, am I a hero or what?” Miles asked, heading towards the main door. There was a cheerful pep in his step, a sort of pride in the accomplishment he had made by taking down a cult.

“Wait,” Peter suddenly said, stopping in his tracks, as Miles looked over to him Peter spoke once more. “We have to find the temple,” When Miles gave a nod in reply Peter looked around for any possible signs, soon enough Karen flew around as the Spider-Drone of her own volition.

Karen hovered over the altar and talked to them, “There is a hidden chamber underneath this altar,” She flew back onto Peter's chest and settled in properly.

“Thanks, Karen,” Peter said, padding over to the altar and putting his hands on the white marble altar and began to push, his feet changing position as he struggled to move the object. Miles came over and helped him, both of them pushing the altar forward, making it rest directly under the feet of Christ.

There was a deep clicking noise and the spot the altar had been over just a few seconds ago popped down and then slid to the side, revealing a set of steps which led down into a tunnel. Peter looked at Miles and gave him a nod.

Peter headed down the stairs and made his way around carefully as the night vision came on. He looked around at the tunnel walls, scowling as he saw that they were in the crypt of a saint. The coffin of the Saint was decorated with candles and set upon it was a recent offering of a pig. Peter heard a muffled cry and looked off to the distance where the sound had come from the darkness. Of course, it was in colour for Peter, he walked deeper into the crypt, Miles was following him.

Eventually, Miles took the lead as he found a group of people who were tied up, tears in their eyes as they struggled to free themselves of the tight ropes. Miles frowned under his mask at the sight and he began undying civilians so they could leave the crypt freely. Miles got to the last one and freed him, looking over at Peter who seemed to be looking at Miles with a sense of approval.

“You've got hero potential Kid. . . Arachnid,” Peter folded his arms and as Miles came over Peter removed his mask. “No secrets. . . If I'm going to teach you to use this gift of power and make it a responsibility, there won't be any secrets between us. I was about your age when I started this up, so u like me this time you'll have a support group with Red Umbra, Black Cat, and White Widow,” Peter placed his hand on Miles’ shoulder.

“No secrets,” Miles said, raising his hand to remove his mask, exposing his dark face in the shadows of the crypt. He nodded, “When do I start my training?” Miles asked, putting his mask back on. He headed back up the stairs, listing to Peter as the man came up after him.

“Tomorrow morning. You'll be at Jóżef's workshop. I'll pick you up at six in the morning then we'll go on the Staten Island Ferry. Don't wake up late,” Peter went over to the main door and exited the Church, followed out by Miles who was pretty excited over the prospect of being mentored by the Inventive Spider-Man himself, and not only by aforementioned Super Hero but by his partner as well, and having an entire team to back him up as he developed as a hero.

Peter, on the other hand, was sort of nervous, he had found a note on the Priest, Matthew Larsson, detailing an odd project this Allmother seemed to be going through.

_Thanks to the efforts of your sect, Father L., we now have the samples we need to conduct our duty. Abel will be none the wiser to our plans for his death. The Manhattan project is a go and Abel shall be in the palm of our hand. -Allmother._

Peter exited the Church and got a phone call from Jóżef telling him to bring Miles to the workshop tomorrow, and that Jóżef had a surprise for him. This, of course, made Miles extremely excited, he remembered that the suit was a prototype and was beyond excited to see the finished project that was supposed to be a fully formed, functional suit.

FINIS TERTIUS LIBER DE QUINQUE


	4. Book IV of the Cult of Loki: Brown Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Miles Morales, Felicia Hardy, and Gwen Stacy now on his team, Peter Parker feels more prepared than ever to take down this cult in the city. However, a new enemy and a new friend arrive to shift the balance of power.

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__The Fourth Book of_ ** _The Cult of Loki_**

_or_

**_The Fourth Book of Five on the Tales of Peter Parker and Jóżef Ross Against the Lokians_ **

  
  
  
  
  


**_Chapter I. Morning Coffee_ **

Miles had been awake since five in the morning. He had gone to sleep early after packing up a few snacks and a change of clothes. It was worse since he was only on a couple of hours of sleep, his eye life felt too heavy to lift and he could barely move his body. He had been spending the night toying around with his powers, pushing the limit of how much he could lift, how far his webs could be shot. Miles was constantly doing mathematical calculations related to his webbing.

Peter crawled onto the window, knocking carefully to get Miles’ attention and not wake up the rest of the house. When Miles came over to the window, he simply opened it. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a coat. “Hey, Pete!” Miles said enthusiastically, his smile the brightest sun this morning, “I’m ready for training.”

“Red Umbra needs a bit more time to work on something at the workshop, so we’re going to the gym. Pack your bag with work out gear instead.” Peter reached down into the snow and picked up a cup of coffee and one of hot chocolate he had brought along. The little cafe near Miles’ house was a simple doughnut shop.

As Miles came out of his bedroom he looked up at Peter who seemed only a little chilly because of the morning weather, “Is that for me?” He asked, fixing the backpack which held his workout clothes.

Peter gave a grin before handing the hot chocolate to Miles. “Yeah, I didn't know if your parents allowed you to drink coffee so I got you some of the classic good stuff: hot chocolate with a bit of whipped cream.” Peter handed Miles the cup, which the other male took gladly, heading towards the street. “Let's catch the subway to Manhattan and we'll go to Staten by the Ferry.”

“Wait, why would we go to Staten already?” Miles asked while he walked with Peter towards the closest subway in Queens. He adjusted his sweater a little, the hood still on his head. He was rather comfortable in his warm jacket.

“Because we still gotta go see Red Umbra at the Workshop today,” Peter said calmly, sipping his coffee as he walked. He had to talk with Miles about who would be joining them on the subway as well.

“Right, right, it's just that you said we were going to the gym,” Miles replied as they finally arrived at the subway entrance.  A woman was standing there with a hat on and a ponytail. She had on a pair of glasses.

“Yeah, my gym membership is at Planet Fitness. We're working out at a gym in Staten so we can go over to the Workshop after,” Peter replied as he approached the woman without hesitation. “And there she is, our guest.” Peter gave the woman a hug.

“Uh, who is this Peter?” Miles asked, his hands sneaking into his pockets, his eyes soon staring at his feet to avoid either of their gazes. Miles felt horribly awkward about not knowing her.

“Miles, this is Black Cat,” Peter started, only to be swiftly interrupted by the other superhero on his side, “Black Cat, this is—

“—Please, Miles, just call me Felicia. You had some serious moves last week when we were in Brooklyn. I'm impressed, Peter tells me we're helping you train,” Felicia took her hat off and put it inside of her coat after folding it up.

“Yeah, Miles is gonna be with us today. After we finish at the gym, I’m gonna take him by Umbra's to show him the surprise that Red won't tell me about.” Peter headed down the entrance of the subway with Felicia and Miles following him.

Miles leaned in to whisper with both excitement and surprise. “He didn't tell you what the thing was?” Miles had not been told either, but he had a pretty solid idea of what the surprise was. And if he was right he was beyond excited for it.

Peter rolled his eyes a bit, a smile of contentment making its way onto Peter's face. “No, he didn't tell me. Now hush, before you give our identities away. Talk about something normal.”

“Normal? Like what?” Miles questioned as he entered the train, still trying to stay quieter. Felicia was currently beating them at their own game of staying as quiet as possible.

And yet Felicia broke her silence. “How's your family doing, Pete?” She directed her gaze to Peter, removing her prescription glasses for a moment to wipe away the dust, eyelashes, and follicles that had accumulated there. Felicia could still see out of her glasses even when they were like that but it was no fun to do so, in fact, it was a strain on her when she did not clean them.

“Oh, my aunt? She's doing great. After that whole attack from Prowler, she's a little shaken up, but she should be fine,” Peter replied quickly. May was, in fact, fine but he did not like thinking about what had happened. She had been put in so much danger in only a short amount of time.

“My uncle,” Miles suddenly said. “Listen, I'm sorry about him, man. I don't know why he did that.” Miles looked up at both of them, trying to get some level of sympathy from the two adults.

“Oh, don't worry, Miles,” Peter leaned down, whispering, “It wasn't your fault or his fault; the Cult did this to him. I saw that he was being put on trial. I hope that they don't sentence him because of what happened.” Peter gave Miles a reassuring smile, and when Miles gave a weak smile back, Peter continued, “I hear they're gonna bring in one of the Bronx cultists and bend their arm to make them tell the truth about your uncle, so if that's the case you've got nothing to worry about.”

Miles gave Peter a silent nod. “Okay,” he said, still unsure about the situation. He had been watching the trial on his phone. His parents did not let him go because neither did Aaron or Miles’ parents to see his uncle in that position. “So, what kind of training are we gonna be doing at the gym?” Miles asked, putting his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants this time rather than his jeans.

“Weight training—gotta test out that strength and your endurance tests, things like that.” Peter looked out the window as they came to another terminal and were put to a stop. “Felicia, how's the school thing going?” Peter asked, looking down at her along with Miles, meeting Felicia’s gaze.

“Doing good, for the most part. It’s gonna start up again in a few weeks, so I'm ready for it,” Felicia responded with a small grin on her face as she leaned back against the subway train still. “Just kinda stressed about what I’ll be taking next year. It’s a big plate for someone, just now becoming a sophomore, you know?” She asked, looking at Peter in hopes that he could relate to her sentiment.

Peter had not thought about what university would be like once he got there. He truly was moving out in only a week and a few days. Not only that, his partner had stuck his neck out for him to go to MIT, and Peter knew there was the ever-present danger that said partner would reveal his own powers if he got nauseous. Peter swore to himself to keep hero-work and school work as separate things, and to make sure he did even better than pass his classes. He was planning to achieve excellence and become the best engineer he possibly could. “I think I get what you mean; big workload, big duties, the whole thing.”

“How does your Aunt feel about you going to MIT?” Felicia asked next, watching as they finally arrived at Whitehall. Felicia exited the train as the doors opened, making sure to be the first one out.

“She’s fine with it—” Peter said, cutting himself off as he exited the train after Miles came out. He wanted to get to the gym as quickly as he possibly could, and that meant getting onto the 6:30 Whitehall Ferry trip.

“What’s college really like?” Miles asked, looking up at Felicia as he walked alongside her while Peter caught up to the two of them. Miles was, of course, in his sophomore year of high school. He was only fifteen years old, and he had just gotten magnificent powers. Sure, superheroing was on the list of tasks he had to do, but he also had to begin thinking about what college he was going to, what financial aid packages he could get, and other similar things.

“What’s it like? Well, if you got to ESU you’ll have the same four classes a semester schedule I have, and when you get into your later years, like Gwen, you’ll have fewer classes and you’ll have a major in something. It's a bit more freeing but. . . it's a pain. Don’t go out partying like I did my first semester,” Felicia said as she walked into the Ferry Terminal.

Miles smiled as he sat down in the terminal. They were a few minutes early for the Ferry. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ve never liked going to parties; they’re not my thing.” Miles had only ever gone to one or two parties while he was in high school so far, and he was not a fan of getting so drunk his parents could smell it on his breath the next day. He looked around at the people in the terminal as the two adults continued to talk amongst themselves. He would chime in again when he had something to say.

“What’s your workout routine like, Peter?” Felicia asked, smirking a little bit to herself.

“When I’m not busy with work, I go to the gym four times a week. Usually, I work on the speed bags, punching bags. . . I do a lot of gymnastics in other places on different days. I do a lot of boxing with my sweetpea,” Peter said, sitting on his phone and going through his personal Instagram. Aunt May was posting photos of herself going out to dinner again.

“Your sweetpea?” Felicia asked. Of course, she was sarcastic in her tone. She already knew who Peter trained with, but she had never heard him call Jóżef by that name before. In truth, it was rather cute to hear Peter call his partner such names.

“Yeah, just because he looks like a giant teddy bear doesn’t mean he’s not a good sparring partner. Those boxing gloves are like knives when he uses them.” Peter was Jóżef’s equal when it came to fighting villains and practising, but before they had met, they had different strengths due to their difference in powers and routines. Their different strengths made them a perfect team, especially when it came down to them being similar with regards to scientific inquiry.

Peter’s pursuit of the sciences had led Jóżef to make the deal with MIT in the first place, and it would most certainly pay off, considering how determined Peter was. “I’ve just never heard you call him ‘sweetpea.’ Kinda like the nickname I’ve got for my girl. . .” Felicia said softly, looking over at the Ferry as it finally arrived and they were allowed to board. Felicia decided to start off their conversation on the trip with a question to Miles. “So, kid, how have your studies been going at high school? Do you go to summer school or something?”

“Yeah, but summer school just ended last week, so now I’ve got nothing to do except focus on getting ready for our job,” Miles said with a confident grin on his face. He was eager to begin fighting crime as quickly as possible, even if it meant learning some aspects of the job the hard way.

“Don’t be too excited Miles. Training can get pretty tough, especially when we get to the workshop,” Peter said. Felicia would be there to take notes on Miles’ stance and failures in combat when they were at the workshop. Peter also thought it was a good idea to build morale for Miles to meet Felicia, who was going to lead the team in his absence. A trio against the villains of New York: no doubt they would be able to handle it.

“I can’t help it. I’m gonna be like you and do amazing things. How could I not be excited?” Miles folded his arms and turned back, looking out the window to the blue waters they were carried across. Miles was interested to see how Jóżef would improve upon the prototype he had made in the first place. It was readily known that the blueprints were still there.

Peter wrapped an arm around Miles, looking down at him. “Listen, I made a lot of mistakes when I was your age. Don't be _like_ me, be _better_.” Peter bit his lip; he knew he sounded just like Tony. The sweet irony had come back to hit him in the rear end. He was waiting for the next case where he would have to ‘take’ Miles’ suit away from him and he was hoping that moment would never come. If he was going to mentor a fifteen-year-old in how to be Spider-Man, he'd have to remove the boundaries he had so Miles could excel, and he only had a _week_ to do it.

Miles arched an eyebrow. He already had to work twice as hard to meet Peter’s level. Mask or no mask, people would see the ‘Kid’ in his name and ignore the Arachnid part. How was he supposed to go above Peter's level and be the best Spider-Man he could possibly be? Miles looked over to Peter, his eyebrows lowered into an expression of defeatism. “How am I supposed to do that, man?” he asked, his arms still folded.

“You do it the way I did it, hard work and a team. You’ve got this girl on your team, and she's the second strongest person I know,” Peter said, thumbing towards Felicia.

“Second?” Felicia suddenly asked, an eye twitching just slightly from being out in second place, “To 'whomst'?” she said jokingly.

“You already know who,” Peter said with a smile.

“You've got a bias,” Felicia replied hastily, folding her arms over and crossing one leg over the other. She rolled her eyes and looked away from Peter. There were only twenty more minutes on the trip.

“You know me, I gotta put my man first,” Peter said, smirking a little as he sat back. Their area in the Ferry was silent now, a few conversations happening around them.

There were people talking about how their pets had gotten sick, details of horrible dates that had gone wrong, the feeling of the cold breeze against their faces. A man in a suit was talking on the phone about a business meeting with a few other people that he had to meet; the list of people was practically endless, and this was obviously a busy man. A woman who had just finished work was on the Ferry. There was a woman with a little dog in her purse on the Ferry headed to her home.

“Wanna look at some vines?” Miles suddenly asked. Vine had come back in the form of Byte, but most people online called it ‘Vine 2’ who were familiar with the old system. The moment people were able to use Byte it became a sensation, practically an endless stream of content creators who had jumped to YouTube when vine went down that came back to ‘Vine 2.’ There was, of course, the addition of people who had started out on YouTube in the mould of Viners, who readily joined Byte.

“Sure,” Peter said, leaning over to watch Miles’ phone. He was mostly following the typical Vine comedians who had returned. There were also people from TikTok. . .

Peter was rather impressed with Miles’ selection of entertainment; he followed a few of these Viners himself. And ever since Tumblr virtually went belly up, somehow managing to pull itself along, Peter had been moving to Instagram. The few people left on Tumblr were just there for the sinking of the Titanic.

“Click on that one,” Peter said calmly, in reference to one from a social media star who he had never seen before this moment. He was curious as to what this new Viner had to offer.

Peter found himself laughing at the endings of the video which featured dramatic noises and the song Up Against the Wind. Perhaps it was simply the irony that made it funnier or the lack of sense displayed in the videos, Peter did not know which of the two was his answer, but he did know he enjoyed this Viner. So he pulled out his phone and followed him.

Felicia rolled her eyes at the two Spiders and scrolled through her Instagram, which was full of things she enjoyed: videos from actors on set and off, plant-based picture collages, technological aesthetics, things such as these which made her smile. She went to one video and turned the phone to Peter and Miles who gave her their attention, watching as one of the rare flowers bloomed over a timelapse. “Aren't they pretty?” Felicia asked with a grin on her face.

Miles made a comment about the shapes of the plant and Felicia pointed out that this was a Strongylodon macrobotrys, known commonly as a jade vine. Peter simply gave a thumbs up. Plants were not his forte; he was focused on what he did in the chemistry lab more than anything, that and computers.

When the Ferry finally stopped, they exited the boat and went through the terminal to a taxi. Instead of stopping at the Workshop, this time they went to Planet Fitness, where Peter would show Miles how to stay in shape for crime fighting.

When they entered through the doors of the Planet Fitness, Peter immediately made a turn and headed towards the changing room. He had kept a pair of clothes in his locker room. Peter was followed into the gym by Miles.“Hey, where do I change my clothes?” he asked, still holding his backpack. The gym was mostly empty this early in the morning. A few people were in the showers and a few were working out.

“Anywhere you want in here, Miles,” Peter responded, pulling his pants off. He swiftly put on his shorts then began taking off his jacket and shirt. He hastily pushed the clothes into his locker with the spare pair of socks, a t-shirt, and underwear he kept in his locker for after he finished his shower.

Miles gave a little nod. “Okay.” He felt particularly uncomfortable changing around others due to being bullied in junior high school. There were flashbacks to the horrid stench of Axe deodorant spray, shouts and screams in the locker room. Miles pulled on his sweatpants and took his jacket off. “Where can I put this?” Miles asked, taking off his shirt and putting on his workout t-shirt.

Peter looked over at Miles while putting on his own workout t-shirt. “Uh. . . give it here. I'll put it in my locker with the clothes.” Peter took the backpack from Miles, who zipped it up. Peter fixed his t-shirt and led Miles out of the locker room.

Peter walked over to Felicia as she came out of the changing room in her own workout clothing. She was wearing a full body suit, and like the other two, she was wearing a pair of training shoes. “So what's the program, Felicia?” Peter asked, setting his hands on his hips.

“I'm gonna go do some push-ups for a warmup. You in?” Felicia asked, looking at Peter and Miles as she got ready to train in one of the sectioned off areas.

“What do you say, Miles?” Peter asked, looking down at the teenager. Peter was going to see if Miles knew how to assert himself in a situation and make decisions.

“Yeah!” Miles said enthusiastically, “Push-ups sound easy,” Miles could at least do push-ups, and the super strength the spider-powers gave him made things a lot easier. Miles followed Felicia to the sectioned off areas where most people trained in this manner.

Felicia got onto her toes and hands, along with Peter and Miles. “How many?” Felicia asked, looking over at Peter, ready to finally work out.

“Let's do four sets of ten,” Peter responded. And with Felicia's grin of approval, they began. It was easy for them due to their superpowers. Peter was keeping count for them. Their muscles never ached through the process.

They stood up after the last push up and Miles stretched a little bit to the side. “Now what?” Miles asked, following Peter over to the weights. He had known they'd be doing weight lifting, but he was unsure how much they'd be lifting.

“Well, it's not gonna feel like a lot for you, Miles, but right now we're gonna lift five hundred pounds, then we're gonna do a few sets of inverted hang lifts. I've got more for us to do when we finish, but for now let's get to lifting,” Peter said, putting the weights onto the bar.

“How am I supposed to lift five hundred pounds?” Miles said, his eyebrows arched in surprise. Five hundred pounds was a bit much.

“Miles, Captain America dropped something on me that weighed tons. If I can support myself at fifteen with tons on my body, you can lift five hundred pounds.” Peter patted Miles on the back and he finished setting up the bar.

Miles hesitantly got onto the weightlifting bench and grabbed a hold of the bar. To his shock, it was practically weightless. “This feels like a feather. . .” Miles said calmly, lifting it easily. “How many do you want me to do?” Miles lifted the bar for a second time, grinning at his new found super strength.

“As many as it takes for your arms to get sore,” Peter said calmly, grinning down at Miles as he seemed to enjoy his new strength. “And keep count.” Peter looked over as he heard Felicia arguing with someone, and Peter already had an idea of who it was.

“Listen, I told you to leave me alone,” Felicia said as she continued to do her exercises. She eventually stopped and sat on top of the pull-up bar.

“What's the problem here?” Peter asked, glaring down at the short man who had been hitting on Felicia every time they came in here. He was relentlessly annoying.

“It's none of your business,” he said, looking back over at Felicia, “Now, m'lady, will you please let me get you a drink at the bar?” He had a sinister looking smile on his face, but to him, it was probably ‘being nice.’

“No. I have a girlfriend,” Felicia responded almost immediately, glaring down at the man as she sat on the metal pull up bar.

Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Listen, Brett, she told you to  _leave_. Now leave, otherwise, you're gonna get messed up.” Peter kept his arms folded, He was restraining himself from punching the harasser for now. He was waiting on Felicia to give him the approval.

“Listen, you beta cuck, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to leave me and my girlfriend alone. This is harassment,” Brett responded, puffing out his chest, trying to intimidate Peter.

Brett was over six foot tall and horribly lanky. His face was grotesquely fat, with a badly kept beard and greasy hair. Peter did not back down, looking up at Brett. “Dude, _leave_ or else I'll make you leave. You're making her uncomfortable, and I can't have you harassing my friends.” Peter could feel the tension in the air, he looked up at Felicia. “May I?”

When he asked the question, Brett suddenly pushed him. Peter barely moved back at all, but he seemed to be a bit more irritated by the action. Felicia spoke soon, “Yeah.” She looked down at Brett and smirked as his face suddenly turned to one of horror as Peter lifted him without effort. “Byyyye!” she said, taunting Brett before she got back to her work out.

“Goodbye and good riddance,” Peter said as he came back to Felicia, his hands covered in water and getting a bit of the sanitizer. He made sure his hands were completely clean; he was greatly disgusted from having to take out that garbage. “Thanks for that, Peter,” Felicia said calmly.

“No problem. Anything for you, buddy.” Peter sighed before he went back over to Miles who was sweating and still lifting. “Gimme a count, Miles!” Peter said with a smile, standing in front of Miles so he could take the weight from his arms.

“Four. . . Hundred eighty-seven!” he cried out, lifting once more, breathing heavily as he continued to lift.

“Just thirteen more!” Peter said, giving Miles more encouragement to continue. “You almost got it, just a few more and we'll take a break!” Peter held his hands out as Miles approached the last lift. “Almost there Miles,” he said.

Miles let out a loud groan. “Five hundred!” Miles’ arms were feeling a bit sore, almost too sore to hold up the bar. “Take it, take it, take it!” he called out and sighed in relief as Peter took the bar from him and set it in the top rung of the bench. Miles rested his hands on his stomach, breathing slowly and heavily. “Water break?” he asked, looking up at Peter. Miles’ dark cheeks were a shade of red from overexerting himself.

Peter gave him a thumbs up and went to get to water bottles from the locker room. He came back after a while with a smile, handing Miles a bottle of water and asking him, “How do you feel?” Peter stretched his arms out calmly.

“Tired,” Miles responded simply, drinking his water and letting his body cool off, sweat slightly rolling down his body. He adjusted the neck of his shirt, looking up at Peter. “Okay, I'm ready. What next?” Miles asked as he stood up from the bench, finishing off the water.

“Gymnastics, then a bit of time at the speed bag,” Peter said, heading over to the bar where they would do the inverted hang lifts. Peter grasped the chin-up bar with an underhand grip. “Follow my lead, Miles,” Peter said as he moved from a hanging position into the inverted pike. He began to lift himself upwards then downwards in a controlled manner. Miles followed his directions, and they continued to work out.

Felicia came over to give them comments on their form. “You’re doing great Miles, keep yourself steady!” She continued to watch the two Spiders work out. After three sets of twenty, they were finished with the inverted pike and landed down onto the floor easily.

“And that’s how it’s done, Miles,” Peter said, stretching his shoulders a bit. “Now, the speed bag! It’s a good quick work out, and I think you’ll like this one the most.” Peter headed over to the speed bag, which was already set up next to the other types of punching bags. Peter stepped in front of the speed bag and got ready to use it. “So this is how it goes: you hit it in a barrel type of motion to keep it going.” Peter began punching the speed bag easily, making the air filled workout tool swing forwards and backwards due to the force applied from Peter’s fists.

Peter began to wind down his punching after a solid five minutes, giving the bag one final, satisfactory punch. “Give it a go, Miles,” Peter said, stepping back and talking with Felicia while Miles began punching the bag effortlessly. “He’s pretty strong,” Peter whispered to Felicia while he watched Miles easily punch the bag.

“You’re right. I think he’ll be a good member of the team when you’re gone.” Felicia folded her arms as she watched Miles as well. He had an endless amount of potential for fighting against crime, and if being on her team meant Miles stayed on the right path, Felicia was all for it. Felicia gave Peter a smile. “But I’m staying the leader,” she said. She headed off towards the weights to do a bit of lifting herself.

“Of course. Couldn’t pick a better person for the job.” Peter walked over to Miles when the other Spider-Man finished punching the bag and spoke calmly: “Alright, there’s one more exercise to do, then we’ll go get cleaned up and head to the workshop.” Peter pointed over to the two mats in one corner. “We’re just gonna do a few squats, then we’ll talk it over.”

Peter headed to the mats and stood on one, waiting for Miles. When the other Spider came over, he demonstrated the proper way to do a squat, leading his protege in the squats. They did three sets of ten when it came to squats, and once they were finished, Peter patted Miles on the back. “Good work out, Miles.”

Miles smiled a little after wiping sweat from his forehead. “Thanks!” He followed Peter to the shower so he could get cleaned and change.

When they were dressed in their civilian clothes, they left the locker rooms and found Felicia waiting for them in the chair. Miles was on his phone as they exited, his smile replaced with a little frown.

“What’s the matter, Miles?” Peter asked as he walked towards the workshop, which was only a few blocks away. He was happy to walk with his new allies in the fight against the cult of Loki.

“They sent Uncle Aaron to three years in prison,” Miles responded. “This is stupid! Brock Turner got six months instead of six years for sexually assaulting someone and left three months after, but my uncle gets three years over robbery! How is this _‘justice’?_ This is pathetic. And he doesn’t even have an opportunity to get out early for ‘good behaviour’. I can’t believe this!”

Peter let out a small sigh, wrapping an arm around Miles’ arm. “I know, Miles. It’s messed up. I’m sorry about your uncle; he didn’t deserve this.” Peter patted Miles on the back gently. “We’re gonna do whatever we can. I’ll call in a few favours and see if I can pull a few strings.” Peter looked down at his feet as he walked now, and Miles was hanging his head in defeat. Felicia gave him a hug.

“I know how you’re feeling, Miles. It's why heroes are _justice_ because what the law refuses to do properly, we handle ourselves.” Felicia patted his back gently and gave him a reassuring smile. “When he comes back you’ll be a different person and so will he, but that’s a good thing. You two will have so much to talk about.”

Miles sighed, looking up at her with a single tear in his eye. “I’m scared for him.”

 

When they arrived at the workshop, Peter did the honour of opening the door and walking in. “Babe, we’re here!” Peter called out, grinning as the taller man came out of the hidden room to the right with a prosthetic arm in his hand. “There’s my _Miś_ ,” Peter said, suddenly hugging his partner tightly.

Jóżef smiled brightly and let Peter hug him. “Hey there. How’d the work out go?” He looked over at Miles as he let Peter hug him. “Hey, Miles.” He suddenly stopped when he noticed how downtrodden Miles appeared. “I heard about your uncle. I’m really—

“—Sorry? Is that what you were gonna say? Thanks. . .” He leaned back against the wall and looked down at his feet once more. He simply needed a moment to accept this reality, no matter how unjust and horrid he found it.

“Miles, we gotta test out your powers,” Peter said gently, placing his hand on Miles’ shoulder. “Please,” he said, looking into the other Spider’s brown eyes, “If an attack happens we gotta be able to handle it.”

Miles got off the wall after a moment. “Okay. Where do we practice at?” Miles asked, walking over to Peter, his arms crossed. “And do I get to wear my suit or not?”

“Yeah, you can wear your suit if I can wear mine.” Peter chuckled, pressing one of the hidden buttons on the wall. A small spot on the floor opened up to expose a set of steps. The floor underneath was well lit, and Peter entered the room, “Come on.”

Miles quickly followed Peter down the stairs. He looked around the room they entered, noticing it was full of targets which had been bought from somewhere else, likely originally used to throw darts or shoot arrows. Miles emptied his backpack and pulled the strings, allowing the nanotechnology to cover over his hands and trail over his body, forming into the skin-tight black suit. The red webbing came over his fingers and he balled his hands up into fists. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

Peter allowed his suit to form over his body. He figured it was time for a change in suits in order to distinguish himself from Miles;  he could see his new suit already. Peter said, “Target practice. Show me how many bulls-eyes you can hit from this distance.”

Miles moved the fabric at his wrist to make sure he had space to shoot his webs, then he began shooting the targets. His tongue stuck out to the side as he concentrated on hitting the targets with as much precision as possible. He only missed one of the targets, then he looked up at Peter, the mask finally forming over his head which caused him to pull it off. “How’s that?” Miles asked, looking up at Peter, impressed with himself.

“Pretty good.” Peter shot a web at the bulls-eye Miles had missed. “With a little practice, you can get all of them next time. Next up, show me how well you can balance.” Peter pointed over to a bar which Mile was to walk across. It was not too high from the ground.

Miles walked over to the bar and stood on it without falling. He smirked over at Peter as he began walking across the bar. He shot a web at one end of the room and walked to the other end of the bar once more. Miles shot a web at the other wall parallel to his first web and tied the two together. He allowed the webs to stand in suspension before he got onto the self-made tightrope. He walked across it, looking down a Peter. “Impressed?” he asked with a little chuckle.

Peter clapped. “Pretty good, Miles. You’ve got the aim, the balance. Tomorrow we’ll do combat and web swinging. But for now, lemme show you how to throw a trash can with your webs. It’s a pretty cool thing for crowd control.” Peter went over to a large rock he used for throwing practice. He would launch the massive tool of destruction at one of the targets whenever he was practising his throws.

“Sounds great,” Miles said as he came over to Peter, getting down from the web he had made easily. He could get used to these powers; he would never have to take the bus again when his father was busy at work and his mother was also busy. He could do a multitude of things with these webs now, and the possibilities, in Miles’ mind, were absolutely endless.

Jóżef was busy toying around with the prosthetic limb he was making, talking to Felicia as he did so. “So what are your thoughts on Miles, a promising young hero?” He pressed one of the buttons on it, making the hand clasp then open, and after it opened the hand extended its fingers, wiggling them around. “Octavius was pretty damn good at making prosthetics,” He muttered to himself, lower than Felicia could hear.

Felicia came over, taking a seat by Jóżef easily. “Kid’s got spunk and potential. I think if Gwen and I help him after you two leave he’ll be a great guy for this city. Have you found any leads on the cult? Surely there are some in Manhattan, and maybe even Staten Island.” Felicia sat back in the chair, relaxing as she did so.

“No, we haven’t been able to catch up on anything, and our social media’s just gone dark. No one’s seen anything of them. I think they’re locking themselves up pretty tightly,” Jóżef pressed a button on a controller with an analogue stick, which made the arm raise up and form into a fist. “Coming along nicely.”

The door to the shop suddenly opened. “We’re closed,” Jóżef said, making sure his civilian clothes had not an inkling of his superhero identity on it.

“I hear Spider-Man frequents this place. I got a tip for him and his sidekick about the cult.” The man was a detective, pulled out a badge to show just that. He had on a fedora and a coat which covered his other clothing.

Jóżef groaned, his back still turned to the man. His suit formed around him as he grabbed his dog tags and the mask came over his face. He looked back at the man. “I am not a sidekick, I am a _partner_.” His brown eyes narrowed, piercing through the soul of the other man. “Now, what do you have for us?” He had his arms crossed and Felicia stood up.

“I’ll go get my son.” Felicia was coming up with any excuse possible to keep her face hidden, even though she had on her wig which kept her identity hidden. Felicia went down the stairway immediately, and after a moment, Peter came up with his suit on.

The Detective spoke once more: “My name is Alexander Jameson; just call me Al. I‘ve been following up on a few leads at my department. I found a couple of clues and some strong evidence of someone in the cult, named Louise Carlson.”

“Why weren’t we told of these ‘leads?’” Jóżef questioned, folding his arms as he stood up, towering over Jameson.

“Red, do you and your boyfriend give us any of the clues you get on the hunt for these cultists?” he asked, looking up at the man, then his partner. “Now, do you want the information or not? Because this woman is in trouble.” Jameson pulled out his phone and showed the two heroes a video of an unconscious woman who was being dragged away.

Peter’s lenses went wide. “Where is it?” he questioned, moving past his partner and trying to grab Al’s phone. That was before Al pulled his phone away and put it into his coat pocket.

“Bowling Green. You’d better hurry. I’ll keep in contact with you. Don't fail this woman, Red Duet.” Alexander handed them both a card with his contact information on it. “We'll be in touch.” he exited the workshop and Peter looked over to Jóżef.

“Get Miles, his new suit is ready,” Jóżef said hastily, heading towards the door before Peter spoke.

“We're not taking Miles on this mission.” He folded his arms in defiance. He knew the cult was dangerous, but it would be even more dangerous to put Miles around more than twenty armed men who could have had that armour on from the last time they fought.

“What? Why wouldn't we take Miles on this mission? We need all the help we can get.” Jóżef looked over at Peter, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

“The kid isn't ready, Jóżef. We can't just throw him out into combat. It wouldn't be responsible.” Peter looked over at the stairs then over at his partner. “It's not happening.”

Jóżef sighed, he did not have time to fight Peter on this, “Fine.” He went down the stairs, telling Miles that his new suit was in the other room. Jóżef came back up the stairs quickly and looked Peter directly into the lenses which covered his eyes. “Let's get going, use your webs.”

Peter nodded and grabbed Jóżef by the waist. He exited the workshop and shot a web off into the distance, swinging towards the bridge.

Jóżef hugged onto his partner tightly as they continued to swing. He watched as the water whimpered under them. When they arrived in Brooklyn, Peter took them to the subway, and from the subway, they headed to Manhattan.

The subway took them to the Whitehall subway terminal where Peter dragged his partner out and grabbed him by the belt. He swung quickly as Jóżef climbed back onto him properly. Peter was racing towards Bowling Green. “Karen, tell me about any secret entrances in Bowling Green!”

He eventually arrived at it as Karen told him there was a set of colonial tunnels by one of the entrances to the park. Peter went over to it and landed against a wall. “Joey, jump down,” he ordered.

Jóżef obeyed, of course, and landed on top of the small sewer entrance. He lifted the lid and jumped down into the underground tunnels which had no lights to illuminate them. He turned on night vision mode and moved to the side as Peter joined him in the tunnels. “Let's take care of this cult and get out of here. There should be a few patrolling the tunnel. We take them out quickly, then we take down Carlson.”

“Agreed,” Peter said quickly as his night vision activated. He headed towards one end of the tunnel. “I'll go this way, you go the other, and we'll meet up at the main door when one of us finds it.” Peter looked back at his partner while he still had time. “I love you.” Peter hoped the point got across to Jóżef; his partner tended to think Peter was mad at him when he was stern and urgent. Peter could not be mad at Jóżef over that; the man had horrible past experiences with being verbally abused by his few partners.

Peter crawled onto the wall of the tunnel then the arched ceiling. He crawled across it, looking in the darkness; there were flickers in the distance, a flaming torch of ‘civilization’. Peter continued to crawl towards the flame and found himself amused at what he saw. The cultist was wearing simple clothing which consisted of black and green robes, coupled with the hood and mask that all cultists wore. Peter roped himself down with a single web, his feet pressed to the tool of suspension. He reached out with both hands, wrapping a rope of webs over the cultist’s mouth and slammed them into the ceiling, then webbed them to the ceiling of the underground tunnel. He went down to the ground to put out the torch. “Twenty-four,” Peter muttered.

He walked through the tunnel deeper. There were two flames in the distance which seemed too close for comfort. He got closer while his cloaking was active, finding that the two were busy having a conversation.

“Did you hear about the new one?” the first one said to their companion, still holding the torch while going into their pocket, pulling out a cigarette and using the torch to light it before taking a puff from it.

“No, what about him? You mean _Skapsilija_?” The other cultist asked, looking over at their companion as they spoke.

“You _have heard_  of him. Well, let me tell you, the stories don’t lie; he really is crazy. The Allmother’s personal assassin,” the first cultist responded, taking another hit of their cigarette. They clearly seemed horrified by something.

“What did you see, Sakiel?” the second cultist asked, looking into the other cultist’s mask holes.

“Jegudiel, I can’t even begin to tell you. The man. . . he is the angel of _death_ , but he is also the god of beauty. It’s simply unbelievable. He’s almost always covered in blood, but when he isn’t, he’s always got the stare of death. He’s angry a lot of the time; keep your distance,” Sakiel warned, taking another hit from their cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stepping on it to put out the light.

When Peter knew there was no further information, he took a distance further away from them, shooting an impact web from each web shooter, making the cultists fall to the ground webbed up. They were not too far away due to the slowed speed of the webs caused by their distance. Peter came over and set his foot on top of one of the cultists. “Stop squirming,” he muttered, webbing the two to the floor easily. “Twenty-two,” Peter said softly as he webbed their mouths shut, then continued to walk through the tunnel.

Peter crawled on one of the walls easily. The stone felt cold against his hands as he crawled; the walls were slightly saturated in ancient water which stunk of death. Peter came up to the next cultist, hearing them sing softly to themself. “You're your own worst enemy  
You're a walking catastrophe. You're at war with yourself and nobody else. You're a danger.” Peter rolled his eyes as he came up to the side of the cultist.

“Hold this for me.” He shot them with an impact web, making them stick to the wall. He came over and webbed their mouth shut. “You’ve got a horrible voice by the way.” Peter walked deeper into the tunnel and heard the sounds of footsteps from in front of him. He jumped onto the ceiling and clung to it. _Why wouldn’t they use a torch?_ He heard the footsteps directly under him. As his eyes caught glimpse of the cultist, he descended on them and pinned them to the ground. “There’s always something that goes bump in the night.” He webbed them to the ground. As he finished covering their mouth, his spidey-sense went off, making him roll to the side immediately.

He barely escaped the slash of a sword. The cultist, however, was cut in the side and they could not break the webs due to the loss of blood. Peter looked behind himself while he was on his stomach. He turned on his back and shot a web at the sword hilt of the cultist, yanking it away from them. Peter stood up and took the sword in his hand. “Oooh, a sabre!” As the cultist’s eyes began to glow green and a deep rumbling sound erupt from their chest, Peter shot a web at their mouth. “Shh, no talking while infiltrating the cult!” he whispered.

The cultist glared and put their fists up, waiting for Peter to attack them. Peter ‘took the bait’ knowing what the plan was. As the cultist gave Peter a swing to the face Peter ducked and punched them in the stomach. When the cultist held their stomach in pain, Peter hit them in the side of the head with the pommel of the sabre, knocking them out and making them fall to the floor. Peter webbed the sword to a wall opposite to the cultist, then webbed the cultist to the other wall. He covered their mouth with webs then went to clean up the companion who had a wound. “See what happens when you play with swords?” he asked before covering the wound in webbing and properly pinning the cultist to the ground, webbing them up once more for safety precautions. “That makes nineteen.”

Peter found himself at the main door to the temple, where his partner was waiting for him. “How many did you take down?” Jóżef asked immediately. He stopped leaning on the wall as Peter came over to him.

“I got six. How many did you get?” Peter asked, looking up into Jóżef’s brown eyes, which were naturally grey in the darkness, but appeared white in the night vision of his suit.

“I got four. That means there’s fifteen left. Let’s get the last of them out of here.” Jóżef looked back into the lenses of his partner’s suit. He did not need to wear his glasses since he had been waiting for Peter. As the Spider walked towards the metal door of the temple, Jóżef grabbed Peter by the forearm. “I’m. . . sorry for being so over emotional. It’s not fair to you for me to act like this. I’ve gotta learn to put them all behind me.”

Peter reached up, removing Jóżef’s mask to see the stain of a tear that had been near his mouth and jaw, several tears actually. “Jó, when I said ‘I love you’ that meant _all_ of you, not just the parts that don’t overstress about every little detail. I can’t love part of you without loving all of you.” Peter pulled his mark off, holding it in his hand, “Now, dry those tears, and let’s go shut this thing down.” Peter wiped a tear away from Jóżef’s eye so he could lean up and press a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Jóżef nodded gently and pulled his mask back on, watching as Peter pulled his on afterwards. Jóżef headed into the temple, walking slowly and carefully as went through the desolate colonial tunnels with his partner. Jóżef crouched down as he heard the sound of chanting and his ultraviolet vision picked up the sight of a great flame.

Jóżef walked into the corner of the room where there was another doorway nearby. Peter got on the other side of the wide doorway. The sound of two people speaking in Icelandic was heard, their pitter-patter of footsteps approaching the two heroes.

Peter looked at his partner and gave a nod, waiting for the two to approach. As one of their feet entered the doorway, both heroes came out from their hiding spots. The two of them took down the two cultists in their own ways. Peter had slammed the cultist into the wall and webbed them from the mouth down ‘til they were properly pinned up against the wall. Jóżef simply slammed the cultist’s head in the wall and watched them fall to the ground on their bottom with their knees to their chest. Jozef gave Peter a thumbs up as he webbed the cultist to the wall.

“Thirteen left,” Peter said calmly as he walked through the doorway while crouching, his cloaking device active as he snuck through the temple, situating himself behind one of the columns that were in the room. The entire temple was levelled so that no one stood above the other; there was a medium-sized statue of a woman there who appeared to be Sigyn. The person right in front of the statue who had a captivated audience of thirteen people was a person with a feminine voice.

They were talking about the things the cult was currently facing, “Brothers and sisters of Loki, I’m sure you all know what has been happening around the city. Spider-Man and the Scarlet Shadow have been destroying the other members of our faith. But tonight, we shall be aided by the God Loki himself. He shall give us guidance in our hour of need, and may our hero _Skapsilija_ provide not only the Allmother with protection but all of our sisters and brothers all over the Borough of Manhattan. For not only are we a great nexus, we’re the heart of this  _city_ itself. We pump the lifeblood through everything in this town, and through that, we will control the whole of this planet ‘til Loki returns. So, even if our sect should fall, the others shall take over for us, for we are legion!”

The crowd cheered for her and Peter gave an eye roll as he snuck through the temple by the corners. He went over to the shadows where one of the cultists was. The cultist was still clapping along with their fellow worshipers, so Peter pulled the cultist back and webbed them to the wall easily. Peter smirked behind his mask and watched as Jóżef dragged one of them off into the darkness and knocked them out, putting them against the wall. Peter thought to himself, _eleven_.

Peter’s spidey-sense went off, and he looked to his right where he found a sword swung at him. He dodged the attack quickly and jumped into the air, shooting a web, and swinging with his feet out to kick the cultist. Peter noticed that their eyes were glowing with a blue flame, making him narrow his eyes. He realized the attacker could see him, meaning his cloaking tech was useless now. Peter stopped using the gear and realized no one was headed towards Jóżef, meaning they could not detect his natural camouflage powers.

Peter dodged the second attack and shot a web at the cultist who had gotten back up. “Karen, throw out a drone!” Peter ordered. As the drone came out to attack the cultists, Peter watched as it was immediately cut down and split in half. Peter groaned, “That was expensive!” Peter shot a web at the sword, sticking it to the floor, before he charged at the cultist, kicking them in the side then the chest. Peter jumped, giving the cultist a kick in the stomach that sent them flying. Peter landed on his palms, doing a backflip.

Jóżef got into the mix of the fight, charging forward with his pistol. He shot two of the cultists, managing to hit both targets. “That’s eight!” He called out, blocking an attack with a sword with his suit. The focus of the power was clearly in the mask itself rather than the weapon this time, meaning there was not even a scratch on him. Jóżef shot the cultist in the stomach with a bean bag round, making them recoil and clench their stomach. Peter shot a web and sent the cultist to the ground, webbed up properly and pinned.

Peter shot two splitter webs which hit their two targets in the eyes. Peter hit one of them to the ceiling with an uppercut, using a bit more of his strength. He shot an impact web at the one on the ceiling, sticking them there, then he shot a web at the other one who was still blinded, “Five!” Peter caught a blade of a sword with one hand and a second blade with his other hand, “Red, give me a hand here!”

Jóżef took his bow and shot a knock-out arrow at one of the cultists who was getting closer to Peter. He hit the other one with the bow itself, sending them to the floor, “Three!” Jóżef got wide-eyed at what he saw as he looked over towards Peter, “ _NO!_ ” He shot an arrow at Carlson, rushing over and pushing Peter to the ground, groaning in pain as he found one sword in his shoulder and another in his left thigh. “ _Son of a-_ one of these days you bastards will get a fatal cut!”

Peter stood up, his shoulder bleeding from a direct cut to it. He shot a taser web at one of them and an impact web at the other. As they went down, Peter weakly webbed them up then went over to his partner, helping him stand. “It’s over Carlson,” Peter said, walking over to Carlson with his web shooter ready.

“It will only be over when you’re in your grave, Spider-Man!” she said defiantly as Peter ripped her mask off with the web shooter.

Peter took the note from inside of it and looked at the mask. Peter put it onto one of the loops in his utility belt by his eye hole. “You know, Carlson, I really doubt that. Because while you’re legion, our team is the _wave_ that'll wash it all away.” When Carlson was about to give a defiant reply Peter webbed her mouth shut. “Nope.” He smirked and looked up at his partner. “Let's get you an ice pack.”

“Sounds great.” Jóżef began limping out with Peter helping him on the way. Peter was on the phone with Alexander Jameson.

“Hey, get down to Bowling. We cleaned up the mess we found,” Peter said, climbing the ladder behind Jóżef to make sure his partner did not fall, also enjoying the view.

“Good work, Spidey. I'll contact you when I've got more info on other leads. Thanks for the help, we'll be in touch,” came the reply, then the click of the phone hanging up.

Peter rolled his eyes as they exited the entrance of the tunnel and came back on the street. Peter wrapped his partner around his back by tying a few webs around them. Peter swung over to the closest hotel and stole a bit of ice, putting it in little plastic bags.

Peter took his partner to the subway and, once they were in their civilian clothes, he bandaged him up and put ice over the wounds, letting Jóżef lean on him for support as the trip from Manhattan to Queens ran its course.

 

**_Chapter II.  T is for Terror_ **

It was three in the afternoon and Peter groaned weakly as he rolled out of the bed, hitting the floor. He had been awoken by the endless ringing of his phone. Peter stood up, stretching his back. Peter grabbed his phone, looking at the caller id and answering with a heavy sigh. “Miles, why did you wake me up from my nap?” Peter looked at his half-naked partner who was knocked out, properly bandaged up since they had gotten back to their apartment. Jóżef had the blankets covering his lower half with his torso exposed to the world, he looked peaceful while his wounds were healing. Jóżef was spread out, taking up most of the bed as he snored quietly.

“Well there’s something happening and I sent you like thirty texts and you didn’t answer so this was the only thing left. . . sorry,” Miles sounded downtrodden, clearly disheartened by Peter’s groggy tone.

“No, it’s fine, Miles. Don’t beat yourself up, what happened?” Peter sat on the bed and reached back, gently playing in his partner’s hair as he rested. Peter was a mentor now, he had to learn that he was on call for his protege at any point in the day, especially the afternoon.

“My spidey-sense went off outside of this building in Manhattan, so I went inside and I found one of those daggers the cultists used, its covered in blood. I already collected a sample and I’m gonna drop it off at the cops. Could you meet me at the building, I don’t wanna investigate on my own,” Miles did the right thing by calling his mentor for assistance, he wanted to meet Peter’s skill, so what better way than to watch the master in action?

Peter got off of the bed, “Okay, text me the address and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Peter grabbed his watch and his bracelet, going to the window as the suit formed over his body. It felt different having the fabric hug his bare chest. Usually, he was wearing a pair of street clothes under his suit, but today he was only wearing his underwear due to just getting out of bed. He would grab a pair of street clothes later on. Time was of the essence for now.

 

Peter arrived outside of the building Miles had texted him, sitting on top of it. “Miles?” He asked, looking around before the man in the little dark suit came out of his hiding spot behind the vent. Miles had been getting a few moments of rest, his outfit looked rather different now.

The black suit was solid with an upside down lambda, there was a red spider symbol on his chest which was surrounded by webbing, the ends of the inverted lambda had wrapped around Miles’ arm just below his shoulder. The lenses of his eyes were expressive and there was a red web pattern surrounding his mask, with red lining around his eyes. His fingers were still red with black webbed patterns on it and Peter noticed that Miles had a set of much smaller web-shooters. “Hey, Peter, I already removed the lid of the vent so let’s get going. I think one of the supervisors is a cultist.”

“Why do you have web-shooters?” Peter asked, looking at the little device on Miles’ wrists. He approached the vent, and climbed down into it, listening to Miles on the private communication system Jóżef had made.

“I’m technically not using web shooters. They’re web- _filters_. They don’t contain web fluid, they have different filters that allow me to shoot different types of webs,” Miles crawled into the vent after Peter, looking around inside the vent, “The supervisors are on our left, the schematics I found say their offices are to our right.”

“Did you find any of them with a letter ‘T’ at the beginning of their names?” Peter asked as he made a right turn, heading towards the offices. Peter spoke once more as he crawled, just a few seconds after he spoke the first time, “Because the note me and J found yesterday said something about a guy with a T in his name, here let me read it,” Peter stopped moving, taking the note out so he could read verbatim from it: “ _Sister C., I find it most enjoyable that the Allmother has loaned us the_ **_Skapsilija_** _. He is a fine warrior, and though he has anger he is well trained. We shall unleash him upon Manhattan, and not only will the Spider be brought to his knees by the very city he protects, by himself, we will be_ **_adored_ ** _by the populace after we remove the Skapsilija once his use has been fulfilled. Brother T will be involved at the shareholder vote, make sure he does his duty right and proper. - Mother A.”_

Miles rose a brow, making one of the lenses of his mask rise, “There’s a shareholder meeting going on with the supervisors here, this is the headquarters of a company called ‘Enviroall,’ They sell green energy tech, you think the cultists might be in business with them?”

“I’m thinking this whole corporation is a part of the cult, like how some of those journalists took over the Daily Bugle, I’m gonna call some of my friends and tell them to meet us around here. We’ll give them an exclusive on this ‘Brother T,’” Peter dropped down from the vent into the offices. The floor was empty  _mostly_. Peter could hear the heavy footsteps approaching him, they were calm and almost a swaying like sound. He hid behind one of the cubicles and watched as a cultist walked past him in limited light.

Peter looked up and saw Miles crawling on the ceiling of the room, the Kid Arachnid pulled the cultist to the ceiling and webbed them there, making sure they were secure and could not get away. Miles took the seax and landed on the ground, approaching Peter. He whispered, “Let’s check everyone with a T,” He started, looking towards the names at the desks, “Taylor, Thomson, Travis, Thompson, Tolovski, and Tanner. I’ll take three you take three,” Miles headed over to the first row, ducking once he felt his spidey-sense go off.

Peter shot a web and went to the ceiling, watching as two more cultists came inside with flashlights, the whole floor was without light except for the room where the shareholders were meeting. Peter watched them, avoiding their lights by crawling from end to end of the ceiling. Peter saw Miles shoot a little trip mine which caused both of them to be wrapped up in webs and fall to the floor next to each other. Miles shot them with multiple webs and pinned them to the floor for good measure, he went over to the second desk after he investigated the first one.

Peter was already investigating the desk belonging to Tolovski when he found a porcelain mask inside of the desk along with a hunting knife, “Something tells me he’s not in a dramatic play,” He looked to his left, “Miles, found our guy, let’s go to the meeting and put this guy down. Karen, text MJ and Ned, tell them I’ve got their next story,” Peter began walking towards the meeting room, his eyes glued to the door. That was before he saw a flashlight in the distance making him hide.

Miles was playing the hero role dangerously, he was already halfway across the floor, Peter knew Miles had guts but he was still worried about the other web-slinger. Miles looked at his targets, two more cultists, they split soon enough, one heading straight across the room and the other making a left turn, headed straight towards Miles’ hiding spot. Miles grabbed his target once they walked past the cubicle and webbed them to the ground, making sure their face was to the side so they could breathe. Miles webbed their mouth shut and made sure they were stuck to the floor.

Peter rammed into his target, putting his hand over their mouth as he began webbing them up tightly. Peter took the seax and placed it on the table, turning away from his webbed up enemy. He walked towards the door with Miles, looking down into the lenses of his eyes, “Would you like to do the honours?”

“Just kick the door down?” Miles asked, and when Peter gave him a nod Miles raised his foot. He brought his boot against the door and watched as it fell down, “Surprise! Spideys in the house!” Miles looked over at Tolovski and pointed his wrists at him, “You’re under arrest for association with the Cult of Loki!”

Peter came in, holding up the porcelain mask, “We found this in his desk!” Peter pointed his other wrist at Tolovski, “Bradley Tolovski, aka Brother T of the Lokians.”

One of the shareholders looked over at Tolovski in complete surprise, “Brad? It can’t be! It’s gotta be Michael!” Another one of them looked over at the shareholder who spoke and let out a few obscenities.

“Sorry, James,” Bradley said, pulling a wooden mask out of his suit coat. He put it on quickly and as he did his body glowed. Miles web made contact with the wall and Bradley cut the web. Tolovski ran to the window and broke it, jumping out.

Peter ran over to the window and saw a flicker of light and that same aura that looked like the colours of the clothes Tolovski wore. Peter saw Tolovski on a nearby building so he shot to webs and used his strength to force his body over to the building, landing on the edge, as he did he found Tolovski on the edge of the next roof, running from him.

Peter narrowed his eyes and began chasing after the cultist, “Miles, no time for a lesson try to keep up!” Peter swung from the buildings, Tolovski was getting faster in his running, and Peter got a phone call from his partner. “Sup, babe? Kinda in the middle of a chase right now, one of these cult guys is super fast!”

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know I’m headed to the workshop, I gotta finish up on that arm today. Could you pick me up at like nine?” Jóżef asked over the phone.

“Yeah, sure, gotta go, Joe, love you, bye!” Peter hung up his phone and went wide-eyed as a knife which seemed to be _breaking_ through the sky came at him, he was spared only by Miles shooting a web at the knife and tossing it to the ground. “Thanks, Miles!” Peter called out.

Miles gave Peter a thumbs p before he returned to chasing after Tolovski, he covered his face as a loud explosion on top of one of the buildings went off, it was the central air conditioning unit on top of the apartment. As it began falling down to the ground Miles caught it and webbed it to the nearest building, better to have a few thousand dollars of property damage to a window than to have a few people lose lives.

Miles jumped onto the next roof and sprung into the air, swinging after Tolovski, Peter managed to avoid a rush of water from a small rooftop water tower. It would not flood the city, or cause deaths due to being on low supply, so he grabbed the tower and yanked it to the other end, pulling it back up properly so it did not fall, Peter shot the base of the tower with plenty of webbing so it would not fall.

“Give yourself up Toloski!” Peter called out, swinging after him quickly still before he saw a set of cars where five cultists were, all of them wearing that same armour from the fight in the Bronx. Peter watched as Tolovski landed with the five cultists so Peter landed on a lamp post close to this. “Okay, before we get this started, does anyone want out?” Steve had told him that one, and he thought it finally came in handy here, “No?”He jumped out of the way as one of them fired a Chitauri blaster at him, “I guess that’s a no! Kid Arachnid!”

Miles swung down and kicked one of them in the chest, making the blaster fly off into the distance. Miles punched them directly in the face with his electric blast, making them fly back across the street, Miles yanked the power pack off and shot it with multiple webs before swinging it at one of the cultists who was attacking Peter. The cultist fell back and Peter did several backflips to get away, letting the device explode.

Peter blocked an attack from one of the cultists and twisted their arm, he kicked them back and got into a hold with one of the others who ran towards him. “Stay back, creep!” Peter said, tossing the cultist away and he felt around his waist for the porcelain mask. Peter felt a sense of dread consume him as he found that the mask was gone. He looked in front of him and saw Tolovski putting the mask on, his face bearing a smirk before it was covered by the mask.

“We won’t need Skapsilija, I can take you out on my own,” He looked over to a woman after tossing his coat to the side, “Atikah. . . my mammen,” He held out his hand, catching the axe which was thrown to him. It had delicate engravings and began to radiate with an aura. He made a needlepoint knife come out of his arm and he gripped the handle tightly, “Take the little one, Spider-Man is mine.”

“Who’s Skapsilija? You guys talk a lot about them!” Peter avoided the slash that came at him from the axe, afterwards he jumped over Tolovski and shot electric webs at the backs of two of the armoured guards.

Miles shot a web at Tolovski, he turned around and shot an impact web at cultist down the street who was getting up. Miles shot a web at a building and went through the air, kicking one of the armoured cultists in the chest. He stood up and dodged another attack, his arm buzzing with the red electricity, he punched the cultist who he had just dodged and sent them flying.

Miles caught the hand of another cultist and ducked as a Chitauri blast came at him. He punched the one whose hand he had and dashed forward. He ripped the power pack off and shot multiple webs at it, tossing it from one corner at a cultist who stood at another. Miles landed back at the ground and caught the blade of a geirr with his hands, the suit’s metallic material protecting him.

Peters dodged another swing from the needlepoint knife, “Tolovski, you can give yourself up now, you don’t have to fight me, you can leave the cult behind!” Peter shot a web at the knife but let out a sound of annoyance once Tolovski ripped his knife away and swung his axe at Peter.

“Why would I do that? So I can get killed by Skapsilija?” He backed Peter against a wall and swung the axe directly at his head, hitting the concrete instead once Peter dodged and slid between Tolovski’s legs. He swung his knife backwards and growled when Peter snatched the knife away with his webs successfully this time.

“You keep sayin’ it but it doesn’t mean anything to me!” Peter parried the axe blade with the needlepoint knife and gave Tolovski an elbow to the side of the head, making the other man growl at him. “Who’s Skapsil-whatever?”

“As if I would tell you!” Tolovski gave a downward swing which Peter caught with his forearm. “You’re going to die here anyway, Spider-Man, there’s no point in keeping up this fight!”

Miles kicked one of the armoured cultists away from him and dashed forward, punching them with the sparking fist, he stood up and ripped the power pack off, shooting webs at it till it was properly bound. He tossed it at one of the other cultists and caught the geirr of a second. “You guys like jokes?” Miles asked, “because you’re gonna get a lot of them!”

Miles slid under one of the cultist’s legs and punched them in the groin, making them hunch over in pain. Miles stood behind the cultist and aimed his sparking fist once more, crashing it against the power pack, making it shatter, grateful there was no explosion that came after. Miles shot an impact web and pinned the cultist to the wall of a nearby fruit stand. Miles jumped into the air and grabbed a mailbox with his webs, ripping it from the ground and tossing it at another cultist. Miles pinned them to the ground with the mailbox and came down, ripping the power pack off then webbing it to the ground, “You just got delivered!”

Peter gave the handle of the axe a reverse grip and moved it to the side, punching Tolovski in the face. The mask cracked slightly and a piece fell off, making Tolovski’s left eye visible, Peter was greeted by the sight of a glare.

Tolovski kicked Peter in one of his legs and ripped himself away, he hit Peter with the tip of the axe handle and as Peter fell he raised his axe, striking. He missed as Peter rolled to the side and sprung back onto his feet.

Miles shot the feet of one of the cultists and stood over them, a single foot on their chest. He shot a web at their face and watched them struggle for breath, “Stop squirming, dude!” Miles said as he ripped the power pack off and webbed it to the ground easily. He kicked the Chitauri blaster and the geirr off to the side, webbing up the armoured guard who was still struggling. Miles ripped the webbing at their nose away, “There you big baby! Spidey, I got one more, how’s Tolovski coming?”

Peter bent backwards in order to avoid a diagonal slash with the axe. “Working on him!” Peter shot two webs at the blade and tried to rip the weapon away instead he was yanked forward by Tolovski. Peter groaned and shot webs at Tolovski's feet and yanked, making the man fall down onto his back and release a groan of pain.

Miles swung through the air, his feet properly kicking the last cultist in the face, making their helmet fall off. Miles landed next to them and wanted them to the ground before ripping the pack out after punching the back of it. He rushed over to assist Peter with defeating Tolovski, punching over breathless. Tolovski was running away at great speed now. “Whyyyyy?!”

Peter and Miles chased after Tolovski, avoiding the explosions that occurred in their pursuit. Peter made a large next at one point in order to catch a car that had soared through the air. Peter headed to City Hall Lark where he had last seen Tolovski, patching up on a lamp post, “Karen, you got anything?”

Karen replied, “There is a small entrance to an underground sewer network at the side of City Hall.”

When Karen finished speaking Peter saw Miles swinging over to the entrance, ripping it out of the ground, diving in eagerly to retrieve his target.

“That Kid'll be the death of me,” Peter headed into the entrance as well, looking around the dark tunnel before his night vision came on. Peter did the math in his head of how many cultists they had taken down, from what he remembered, there were fifteen cultists left since they had defeated ten of them.

Peter followed Miles, deciding to give him a chance to be the leader and take down this cult leader. Peter crawled onto the ceiling of the sewer tunnel as Miles did the same, Peter watched the two cultists with torches, their Carolingian swords were unsheathed. Peter looked over at Miles, “So?” He whispered into the private communication channel.

Miles looked down and held out a hand, counting backwards from three on it. As he got to zero Miles lowered himself and kicked one of the cultists to the wall, webbing them up, Peter lowered himself and instead pinned the cultist to the ceiling webbing them up easily. Peter came back to the ground, _thirteen._

Miles and Peter continued to walk through the tunnel, their feet silent as they walked, “So what’s our plan of action?” Peter asked, his hands moving slightly at his sides as he walked next to Miles.

“Uh, there are like, thirteen left right, since you mentioned there are twenty-five at each temple plus the leader, making twenty-six. If my math is right then we’ll sneak in and shot two trip mine’s each, should add up to eight cultists,” Miles said as he kept walking, getting closer to the sound of a hymn to Loki.

Peter crouched down and stuck close to the wall as they approached the side of a door, Miles hugged the wall as well. There was a single cultist who walked past them without noticing them, a rifle in their hands. Peter fired an impact web and the cultist flew forward, hitting the ground and getting webbed up.

Miles made his way in after and saw several sets of pews with kneelers. The cultists were on their knees, the pews were lined up next to each other so that each of them could see the medium-sized statue of Sigyn.

Miles positioned himself behind the statue, listening to Tolovski, “They are already here, and we will slay them, the Goddess will provide us with her strength and we shall destroy Spider-Man!” Miles looked over at Peter and gave him a five-second countdown. As the last second was hit Miles sprung into action, firing two trip mines which stuck two guards to the wall and Peter fired two of his own which managed to get four cultists in total, Miles’ aim had just been slightly off.

Peter stole one of the Carolingian swords and grasped it in his hand as one of the cultists ran at him. Peter parried one of the blows with the sword and kicked the cultist to the wall, shooting them with webs until they were properly webbed up against the wall.

Miles dodged a hit from one of the geirrs and he stood upon the handle of the geirr. Miles jumped on top of the cultist’s head and lunged from the top of it, hitting one of them in the chest. Miles stood and webbed the guard to the floor. Miles looked over and turned to the side to avoid the blow.

There were three cultists left, Miles punched one of them in the stomach and Peter shot webs at the back of their head. Peter got on his back and pulled the cultist onto his feet, he rolled backwards and lunged his feet out, sending the cultist into the wall. The cultist fell to the ground and Peter webbed them up.

Peter grasped the blade of the sword and his the cultist in the stomach with the pommel, letting Miles handle them from there. He grasped the handle of the sword and blocked the next hit, watching as Miles threw the cultist to the ceiling and webbed them up there. Peter brought the other sword down and hit the cultist with the knee, making them recoil and hold the nose area of their mask, making them groan. Peter smirked and kicked them in the chest, making them hit the floor, Peter webbed them up and looked over at Miles who was in full conflict with Tolovski.

Miles blocked the axe Tolovski swung at him, he punched the other man easily and rose a brow when he heard a sound similar to the wind running past him. Peter had pinned down the last cultist who had been coming up behind him and was punching them in the face repeatedly. Miles caught the axe with his left forearm and his right hand began sparking, he smirked at Tolovski behind his mask, “You lose,” He punched Bradley in the stomach and made him fall. Miles ripped the porcelain mask off and caught the axe as Tolovski screamed and tried to attack him with the axe.

Miles ripped the axe away from him and hit him with the handle of the axe, knocking him out, “And ‘scene,’” Miles joked, going through Tolovski’s pocket before he pulled out the note and handed it to Peter. He webbed up Tolovski afterwards and handed Peter the mask as well. “I just beat my first villain!”

“Yeah, you did, good job, Miles!” Peter opened the note, looking it over, “ _Brother T., the Skapsilija is the Allmother’s mightiest warrior, do not, in an attempt to prove yourself, try to match him. You can not defeat Spider-Man, Skapsilija was made to defeat him for that very reason! -Mother A._ Awww, they made someone just to kill me, how sweet. . .” Peter put the note away, “Miles, time for some live training, we’re going out on patrol.”

“Really?” Miles asked with enthusiasm as he began heading out of the darkroom and down the tunnel to go out of the sewer.

Peter chuckled at Miles’ excitement, he looked at his watch, he had spent more than an hour fighting Tolovski, meaning Jóżef was already at his workshop, it was five in the afternoon. Peter climbed out of the tunnel and looked into Miles’ eyes as he finally came back out into the sun, “Yeah, Miles, really. Now let’s get going, crime doesn’t wait for us to get ready, hot dogs are on me!” Peter swung off toward the upper side of Manhattan, a couple of thugs should be enough for Miles to handle.

 

**_Chapter III. Soup or Stinger_ **

It was five fifteen in the afternoon, Jóżef was working eagerly in his workshop at Staten Island. Octavius had made thousands of weapons of war, he was even working on what was dubbed ‘the next nuke,’ before the New York Incident in 2008. The only good thing Octavius’ intellect had produced, in Jóżef’s opinion, was this prosthetic limb, Jóżef figured he could also implement parts of the design into his technology in the future, and not only that, he could change the design further to create prosthetic legs and possibly even lungs, he had read about scientists making synthetic organs in a few articles, and that would be greater improved with this revolutionary prosthetic technology.

Jóżef heard the sound of his workshop door opening, he was in his civilian clothes, the workshop was open for business: any repair that needed to be done could be done here, any special tool that was needed could be found, and anything that needed to be built could be, there were even lessons open for basic engineering but those were almost over. “Hello,” He started, turning around in his swivel chair, “How can I help you?” He then rose a brow as he caught the sight of his partner, “Pete? I thought you were out there catching a cultist.”

The web-slinger went over to Jóżef, clambering into his lap easily, “I missed you too much, plus I finished early,” The web-slinger smiled up at his partner and her laced their fingers together gently, “So, what are you up to, handsome?”

Jóżef noted that Peter seemed a bit more affectionate than usual, Jóżef wrapped an arm around Peter’s waist and his entire body became a shade of soft pink as Peter pressed their lips together. Jóżef leaned into the kiss and held his partner tighter, leaning onto him gently. “WHat’s gotten into you?” Jóżef asked gently, tilting Peter’s chin up to look at him.

The web-slinger smiled up at his partner, “Just happy to see you, hey. I came up with a design that I really like, Can we make it today?” The web-slinger held out a little schematic of the suit he had wanted, it was mostly red, the fingers were black with the shoulders as well being of that colour, the mask was black along with a triangle shape that went up to his shoulders which were also black. The mask was black with the lenses being red. The logo on the chest was black but the logo on his upper back was red. The hands had sharp fingernails, sharp enough to puncture through skin.

Jóżef rose a brow as he looked the outfit over, “Sure, it should only take a couple hours to do,” Jóżef noted the fact that this suit was far more skin-tight than any of the others he had made at Peter’s request before, at least by the depictions of the drawing it was far tighter. “Are you sure you don’t want it a bit looser?” Jóżef moved the prosthetic arm to the side as he stood up and headed into the hero lab by pressing a button, which caused the hidden door to raise.

“I’m sure, I like it just like that, J,” The web-slinger replied as he walked through the hidden door and into the lab, a smile on his face.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Jóżef said as he sat down at the table where he assembled suits every now and then, especially experimental suits. Today was, however, a slow day so he would not only finish the suit in four hours, he would also finish up with the prosthetic. “First, what do you want this to be, a watch like the last suit?” Jóżef asked as he sat in his chair.

“What if we go with a shirt so I can blend in easier?” Peter asked, still sitting in Jóżef's lap, a little daring grin on his face as he looked at the other man. Peter leaned forward in a slightly provocative position, he pulled his shirt off from the hem, his arms crossing. Peter’s soft skin was exposed and he looked back at Jóżef as he seating himself firmly on his partner's lap. “A shirt like this,” He made sure the shirt was properly displayed, it was a nice red t-shirt with three buttons from the collar to the middle of the chest, with the top two buttons unbuttoned. The shirt was long sleeved and the sleeves themselves were blue.

Jóżef blushed still and reached up, rubbing his partner's back gently, rubbing over one of the two moles on Peter's otherwise unblemished back. He leaned forward, kissing the soft skin, “Are you just teasing me, cutie pie, or are you trying to barter with me? If you wanted a shirt all you had to do was ask for it,” Jóżef grabbed a hold of Peter's shirt and set it on the table, He pulled out a bit of the vibranium and nanotechnology he had left. Shuri had only just recently called Jóżef about a project she wanted his opinion on, and Jóżef was, of course, needing out about it and happy to assist her with anything she wanted. Shuri had given Jóżef a supply of vibranium in exchange, though he had not asked for it, Jóżef thought Shuri was particularly nice and she even let Peter go around her lab. Shuri was the _smartest_ person on the planet, and the old S.H.I.E.L.D. files Jóżef had found even included a list of the smartest people on the planet. Jóżef was aggravated to no end when he found out he was tied to Bruce Banner, he's going to have to play mental board games with him sometime, but not only that, Peter was tied with someone named Valeria Richards, both of them behind a thirteen-year-old named Amadeus Cho.

Peter hummed as he moved his hips slightly, “Well, why not incentivise you? It's more fun this way too.” Peter grabbed at the hem of his pants,  and slowly began removing the jeans, “Maybe you should start working.”

Jóżef grabbed a hold of Peter's hips. “Yeah,” his entire body was still pink.

 

Peter continued to swing through the streets of Lower Manhattan, he had an hour or two to kill, especially with MJ and Ned taking their ‘exclusive’ cases and writing about them with great precision. Peter did not want to overwhelm his friends by giving them so much to write about at one time, which meant patrol was the wisest decision for him to pursue in order for Miles to handle crime fighting better.

“Spidey, I see seven robbers at a jewellery show, how do we take them?” Miles asked as he landed on a nearby building. Peter had let him take point, wanting to see how Miles would handle swinging without a leader to follow.

“A web bomb should thin them out, I'll drop down and fire one when they come out, then you join me and we'll handle the others,” Peter perched himself on the edge of the jewelry store, looking over as the door was suddenly kicked open, the thieves beginning to pour out.

They had on simple attire, probably aspiring to be the next Crime Lord. They all had on a gas mask, however, which told Peter they had serious money backing them up. How many stores had they robbed? When all then of them were outside Peter shot a web bomb at one of them, jumping from the roof. He used his webs to zip to a lamp post, patching up there as the web bomb went off. As the webs scattered with few of them falling Peter called out, “Kid Arachnid, now!”

Miles swung down with his feet out, using the momentum to kick one of the thieves in the back, making them fly off down the street. Miles looked back at the others, hearing one of them say, “Who's this runt?” Miles narrowed his eyes before he shot a web directly at the mouth of the thief.

“Shut it!” Miles went wide eyes as the thief pulled the mask off and they all pointed their guns, firing at both Peter and Miles. “Whoa, hold up!” Miles said as he jumped out of the path of the bullets thanks to his Spidey-sense. While he was in the air he shot webs at the muzzle of two pistols, ripping them away from their attackers. “I'll be taking those!”

Peter landed next to Miles, shooting a web at one of them who had a carbine, Peter swung it around before tossing the carbine at its owner. While Peter did that Miles charged forward, closing the gap between them, in order to force them to fight.

As one of them held the barrel of the pistol and tried to whip Miles with it, the younger Spider dodged the attack and kicked the thief in the back, making them fall back. Miles shot an extra strength web at one of them, making them hit the wall of the shot and stick to it. “Nine!”

“Eight!” Peter replied as he webbed one to the ground after grabbed them with his legs and swinging back, making them hit the ground. Peter went over to the next thief, giving them an armada com martelo kick, making them fall easily, clearly unconscious. “guess that makes seven, I think I'll finish all of you in eleven minutes!”

Miles shot a web at the baseball bat of one of them who had tried to hit Peter with it, ripping the bat away and throwing it back at the thief. “On your **_six_ ** !” Miles chuckled out before he caught the fist of one of them and ended up getting punched in the jaw by one of them. “ _Puta madre!_ Te patearé del culo!” Miles grabbed the arm of the other thief and tossed them over his head, hitting them against the thief who had just punched him. He rushed bed his jaw, groaning in pain, “Quatro.”

Peter let out a chuckle as he dodged another attack, grabbing one of the thieves by the feet with his webs, swinging them around before tossing them at another thief. Peter blocked the punch of one of them and watched Miles mimic his kick but ended up doing a gancho since it was easier. “Two!” Peter said before a black car came over.

“Ah, come on!” Miles said as five people with carbines emerged from the car, pointing their rifles at the two spiders.

Peter dodged the bullets along with Miles and shot a set of webs at the door at a door, ripping it from the car before tossing it at one of the attackers, “Six!” Peter landed on a lamp post and shot a trip mine, making two of them stick to each other before falling to the ground. “Make that Four.”

Miles allowed his fist to spark with electricity before he punched another one of them in the stomach, sending the thief flying. The first thief who Miles had kicked down the street ran up behind Miles, the Kid Arachnid turned around, shooting multiple webs at them before tossing the thief at the other three thieves.

Miles dashed over as Peter continued to fight the other thieves, hitting one of them in the chest with a pisão kick. Miles punched another cultist and shot webs at the one Peter had kicked down. “Two left, and if a car shows up I swear to God.”

Peter snickered at Miles’ frustration, “There don't seem to be any other cars so let's finish them up before the police get here,” Peter went over to one of the last two, sweeping one of them by the leg and making them fall. Peter shot a web at one of their faces and webbed the other one of the two to the ground.

As the last thief pulled the web off of their face they were greeted with the sight of Miles’ foot hitting them directly in the face, making them fall. Miles webbed them up easily and looked over at Peter, “And that makes zero.”

Miles stretched slightly as he looked over to Peter. Miles raised an eyebrow, making an expressive eye raise as he saw a single undercover police car arrive at the scene and a man stepping out, “That was quick.”

“Jameson?” Peter asked as Alexander got out of the car and trotted over to the two of them. “What are you doing here?”

“Manhattan is my home Spider-Man, what did you expect?” Alexander placed his hands on his hips, looking into Peter's lenses, knowing that their eyes were connected. “Listen, I've got another location, it's at an old prohibition brewery in the Lower East Side, should be a piece of cake to sneak into for someone of your. . . Expertise. The man you’re looking for is Erik Andersen, sick bastard owns a shelter, pretty sure he's taking homeless people to his temples for sacrifice, I know because I saw him loading up an unconscious person with two masked men in a truck at two am today, I only just managed to find their hiding spot so get a move on it.”

Peter gave Alexander a nod, “Thanks for the info. We’ll check it out,” Peter looked over at Miles, “Let’s go, Miles,” He said, shooting a web at a building and swinging off towards the lower east side. Miles was following after Peter as they came inside of the district.

The two spiders arrived at a large brewing factory, the building was obviously old but no one had decided to buy it out. The windows on the top floor were broken, and from inside Peter could see the faint glow of something green. Peter looked down at Miles, saying, “Stay in the shadows and try to hug the ceiling, The tunnels should be through the basement of the brewery. If this is a secret brewery from the prohibition era they were probably moving their supply underground,” Peter shot a web at the ceiling, the thread going through the broken window. Peter managed to get inside and stick to the ceiling.

Miles followed after him but went through the other room, Peter heard a soft thud-like noise as Miles landed on top of a cultist and webbed them to the ground, Peter gave Miles a thumbs up quickly before he approached a cultist who was already webbed to the wall. Peter rose a brow as he arrived, his eyes got wide as he found a large circular hole, dripping with blood in the cultist’s neck. Peter ripped the webbing off and set the cultist down, “What happened to you?” Peter asked out loud in a whisper.

He stood up afterwards then looked over the railing at the first floor, where a few cultists were walking around or talking, there were other cultists on the second floor as well, hiding in offices and doing their work. Peter snuck into one of the rooms and knocked out the cultist on his side with Miles knocking out another one on his side of the room.

Miles jumped through the massive opening on the second floor and headed to the first floor, Miles grabbed one of the cultist’s by the back of their coak and pulled them off into the shadows. Miles webbed their mouth shut and pinned them to the wall, covering them with webs. There were twenty left now, and three more cultists on this floor. When Miles attempted to attack the other cultists two of them were snagged by a trip mine. Peter landed on the other one, his legs wrapped around the cultist’s neck as he made them go unconscious due to the lack of oxygen.

Peter webbed the cultist to the ground and looked over at Miles, “One of the cultists is dead, found ‘em with a massive hole in their neck, looked like a needlepoint blade. My guess is they were trying to leave the cult and the cult said no, stay on your toes, no games,” Peter looked around the brewery before he walked over to one of the offices on the first floor, looking at a basement hatch in the room, it was slightly cracked open.

When Peter went down the entrance Miles followed, speaking softly. “You know this is a trap, right?” Miles walked alongside Peter through the underground tunnel, jumping to the ceiling as his Spidey-sense went off, making him crawl across the ceiling ahead of Peter. Miles grabbed one of the cultists who had been positioned with a carbine so that they could shoot the two spiders when they got closer. Miles webbed them up then gave a downward kick, landing on top of another cultist in order to knock them out and wrap them in a myriad of webs.

“Yeah, I know, that’s why we’re going through it. Just because they think their traps are smart doesn’t mean our minds aren’t smart enough to find them. Well, that and the spidey sense. We’ve got fourteen cultist’s left, let's get them, the leader, then get out of here before the cops find a way to pin the murder of that cultist on us,” It was not the first time Peter had been accused of murder, it happened only one other time, but he was proven innocent by finding evidence and delivering it to the police. He would likely never be accused of murder again but his paranoia was reasonable.

Miles followed behind Peter who shot an impact web as he kept walking, smirking as he heard a harsh grunt and the sound of someone falling to the ground. Miles walked over to the cultist as they approached said follower of Loki, Miles webbed their mouth shut and webbed them to the wall. Miles shot a web bomb further down and Peter walked ahead of him, finger gunning at the three cultists who were stuck to the walls, “Ten,” He winked at them then kept walking.

They arrived at a massive iron door with large random holes in it, “And there’s home base,” Peter grabbed a hold of the door handle, then leaned against the iron, it felt as if something was blocking it. Peter’s Spidey-sense went off and he jumped to the side, watching sets of spikes came through the door, the spearheads of the geirrs. “Now, that’s what I call a trap, too bad it sucks!” Peter shot a web bomb through the space between the two doors, chuckling as the sound of screams came. Peter kicked the door open as the spearheads left the iron and he walked inside, looking at the five cultists who were still standing, there was a leader there as well, with a similar porcelain mask on.

The mask itself was painted red around the eyes and had a set of red tears scattered across the cheeks. “Oh yuck, is that blood?” Peter asked, shooting a web at one of the geirrs that a cultist had. He took the spear into his head and blocked the attack from one of the cultists, “Arachnid!” Peter called out and gave Miles praise as he tackled the cultist to the ground and punched them in the face, breaking the wooden mask on their face.

Miles looked over at another cultist who was running towards him, he shot a web at them and yanked the web hard, making them fall on their back. Miles stood up after webbing the cultist to the ground, Peter was busy fighting one of the cultists off with the counterweight of his geirr. Miles shot a trip mine at one of them and smirked as the one who was fighting with Peter got wrapped up in webbing with one of their accomplices.

Peter dashed over to the leader who had a sabre in his hands. “It’s over Erik, give yourself up already, there’s nothing left for you to defend, the cult is going to fall!” Peter kicked the cultist back and hit him in the leg with the counterweight. Peter avoided the knife that flew at him. He attempted to shoot a web at Erik before the man suddenly sprung to his feet and charged at the other man.

“Nothing is over till I say it’s over!” Erik responded, swinging his sword at Peter when his attack missed he accidentally stabbed one of his accomplices with his sable. They luckily survived the attack but were quickly webbed to the wall by Miles who also covered their wound with webbing. Erik growled before he thrust his sword at Peter, trying to end his life.

Peter dodged at attack once more then shot a web at the mask, he ripped it off and put the mask in his utility belt, blocking the attack from the sabre. “No, it’s over and done with!” Peter replied, hitting the leader with the counterweight of the geirr. He groaned as Erik caught the geirr with his sabre, he tried to kick Erik but his leg was easily caught.

Miles threw the last cultist to the wall and shot a web at them, smirking and giving a quip, “Ten points for Kid Arachnid!” Miles looked over at Peter, asking soon, “Need some help?” Miles placed his hands on his hips as he headed to the door, looking back at Peter before he stepped back.

Peter rolled his eyes and shot a web at Erik’s eyes, making him step back in frustration, attempting to rip the webbing off. Peter took the opportunity to punch the cultist in the face, making him fall to the ground. Peter hissed, “That’s a trip to the ICU,” He looked over at Miles, “Now we can go.”

Peter headed out of the room after pulling the note from inside the porcelain mask, reading it out to his comrade, “ _Brother A., you have always been dearest to me, thank you for cleaning up that mess with the help of Skapsilija, that traitor would have gone to the police. All things are going as planned now, however, and not only have Skapsilija’s powers increased but the plan is going accordingly. I shall have Sister A. meet you later on. -Mother A._ ” Peter looked over at Miles before he hid the note once more, going outside back into the fresh air. He called Jameson, “Alec, the cult is done for in the lower east side, get your cops over here and let a reporter by the name of Michelle interview you, she’ll tell you she knows me,” He hung up afterwards and looked down at Miles, “What time is it?”

“It’s about six,” Miles replied as he looked at the watch on his Head-Up Display, Peter was so exhausted that he forgot to check his own clock in the suit. “I think I’m gonna get going home at around eight, sound good to you?”

Peter tried to tell Miles yes, but there was a loud explosion that came and a cloud of smoke that came garment district which was not too far away, “Crime doesn’t sleep,” Peter sighed, “Karen pull up the news feed,” Peter narrowed his eyes, and he could tell Miles was just as confused by what he saw.

The headline read: _Bomb goes off at Grand Central Station._

 

**_Chapter IV. Look out, here comes the Spider-Man!_ **

Peter and Miles were racing to their destination, Grand Central Station. The statue that was based on classical designs was set ablaze with a flaming banner, in Old Norse, the phrase, “Long Rule Loki!” Was inscribed in red. The banner covered the entirety of the Grand Central Terminal’s slab. Peter narrowed his eyes at the sight of the banner and he activated his cloaking device, going through one of the windows where smoke was not present.

Peter switched over to one of his non-flammable webs and crawled on the ceiling of Grand Central Station, looking at the carnage that had been done inside. There was a score of people on the ground, their bodies half burned, some of them covered in the rubble that had fallen. Peter shot a few rapid-fire webs at the flames that were forming in small sprouts, and he fired a long web at the larger fires. He soon noticed a selection of people walking around with Shotguns that had geirr heads for bayonets and specialised uniforms, they were going around to the survivors who had been injured and were crawling away. It then happened, too fast for Peter to stop it, the man on the ground who was covering his face was suddenly stabbed in the chest with the Geirr head bayonet. The shotgun was a Hatfield SAS twelve gauge tactical model.

Miles was hidden off in one of the corners, gathering as many survivors as he could in a hidden place. Miles dove across the room and tackled one of the cultists, hitting their head against the floor. Miles noticed that the masks these people wore were made entirely metal and bared no markings, the only indication that they were apart of the cult of Loki was the L shaped insignia on their left shoulder. They had on balaclavas which, instead of having three holes, had an opening where the eyes were totally exposed but the parts from the nose down were wholly covered. Their uniform was black and featured multiple pockets where ammunition rounds for their shotguns were stored. They had other equipment, such as certain grenades and knives. They had black steel-toed boots, armour on their knees, chest, elbows, and shoulders in the shape of pauldrons, made of some cheaper form of kevlar with polymer plastics.

Miles dashed off into the shadows and looked at the cultists who went around, as two of them separated to kill civilians who had separated paths, one path led to a lone woman, the other led to a group. Miles looked at the woman in the distance, her eyes softened as he dashed at the group of survivors, knocking out the cultist who was headed for them. Miles watched in horror as the other cultist lifted their shotgun, grabbing it by the stock and the fore-end.

Before they could bring the blade of the bayonet down the weapon was suddenly stolen from them by Peter, who crashed into the cultist with the recoil pad of the rifle. Peter pushed the unconscious body into a dark spot and nodded his head towards the hiding spot. Peter looked over at Miles before he saw the glimmer of something metallic in the shadows, right behind Miles. Peter’s eyes went wide and he shot a web at the metallic object, trying to yank it away, but he found it would not budge. Luckily, Miles realized what happened and got away from the attacker. When Peter pulled again a web connected to nothing came from the shadows.

From the smoke and rubble came someone clad in a Spider-Suit that was red all over and featured a black logo, one of their arms had a spine like extension in it. The majority of the weapon was made of bone, but the tip was made of vibranium, it seemed to be organic and sprung from the very edge of the attacker’s wrist. They were dragging the lifeless body of a now dead survivor, the weapon on their arm was dripping with blood. “The Original Spider-Man. It’s good to finally meet. . .” Said the attacker, his voice was deeper than Peter’s but resembled it greatly, the lifeless body was dropped from the attacker’s hand and a second blade was revealed, “So that I can end you and fulfil my duty.”

“Who are you, imposter?” Miles questioned, base in his voice as he tried to intimidate the spider who had appeared, in front of them.

“You’re one to talk about imposters ‘Kid Arachnid,’ I’m the better version of that clown you’re standing next to,” The blades retracted into the attacker’s arms before the needlepoint weapons returned, clean of blood and sparkling in the dim lights of Grand Central.

Peter glared before he heard the voice of one of the shotgun-toting cultists. “Captain Skapsilija, target in range.”

“Good work, but out that to the little Kid Arachnid there, Spider-Man is mine,” Skapsilija said, suddenly lunging towards Peter, which made Peter jump to the side to avoid the attack. Finding a way to save Miles from that shotgun pointed at his back would be difficult, especially with a crazy man with knives trying to stab him.

Peter shot a web at the attacker’s feet and when he attempted to pull Skapsilija over to him the man cut the webs from his feet easily, “No fair!” Peter called out before he found his face full of webbing, “Wow, that’s actually really annoying!” As Peter ripped the webbing off he found a blade coming at his face, “Yikes!” He said grabbing Skapsilija’s arm to move the blade and catch the other man’s fist.

“Do you _ever_ stop talking?” Skapsilija asked as their fingers laced together soon, trying to push their evenly matched weight against one another, “Because you really should shut up,” Skapsilija smirked behind his mask as Peter realized his hand was steaming.

Peter ripped his hand away from the burning, “Ouch, you little-” Peter was cut off as he was drawn back to the attacker who punched Peter directly in the chest, making him fall back on the floor. Peter went wide-eyed as Skapsilija got on top of him with the right wrist raised, the needlepoint bone weapon extended and Peter put his hand in its path, groaning as the weapon broke through his glove, stabbing directly through his palm. The point was so close yet so far from his face. He kicked the man off of him and stood up quickly.

Skapsilija smirked, “You know,” he started, knowing how to get under Peter’s skin, “I think after the fun I had with your boyfriend, I’ll keep him alive in a dungeon, I think he’s taken quite a liking to me!” Skapsilija avoided the punch Peter threw at him and let out a growl as Peter shot a web at the shotgun of the cultist, webbing the barrel shut.

“Shut the _fuck_ up!” Peter said with a growl, kicking at the other spider. Peter avoided a powerful stab, punching Skapsilija in the jaw quickly. Peter smirked behind his mask before he shot a web at the spider’s face.

Skapsilija glared as he ripped the web from his face, avoiding a kick from Miles. He caught the protege’s foot and grabbed Peter’s fist when it came soaring at him. Skapsilija jumped back and sprung to the nearest wall before lunging at the two adversaries, he was dodged by them and he found himself landing against one of the cultists. “Dammit!”

Peter shot two webs at the heads of the cultists who were coming over, yanking them down to the ground and covering them with webs. Miles swung through the air and kicked one of them in their chest, making them fall to the ground and hit the back of their head, making them unconscious.

Skapsilija shot Miles with two webs, and pulled him down the ground, shooting webs at him till he was pinned to the ground, “Stand still you little bastard!” Spaksilija’s needlepoint came out once more and he approached Miles, ready to finish him.

“Why are you doing this?” Peter asked, his tone demanding, he shot an impact web and sent Skapsilija flying as Miles broke the webs off of himself with his new super strength, standing quickly next to his mentor.

“Because it’s my job, besides, we can’t have too many Spider-Men running around, _Pete_ ,” Skapsilija said, cutting himself free and avoiding other webs that came at him.

“What did you just call me?!” Peter dared, avoiding one of the cultists who came at him and kicking them onto the ground. His internal phone started ringing and he sighed as it answered on his own while he shot an impact web and sent one of the cultists to the wall, “Zander, kinda busy at the moment!” Peter swept one of the cultists under the leg and Miles webbed them to the ground.

The officer responded, “Oh, well since I know you’re already at Grand Central I wanted to tell you I was on my way, and I’ve got info on the attack, it's led by a Businesswoman known as Catherine Andersen. Seems like cultism runs in the family, this lady is Erik Andersen’s niece!”

“Wait how did you find this ou-”

“Alexander Jameson has hung up,” Karen said while Peter continued fighting. He looked around, taking count of the special operations cultists who had been knocked out, eight exactly. Peter glared as a cultist with a distinct porcelain mask that was lined and covered with metals as well as paint. The eyes were glowing and the leader held in her hand a shotgun with a scramasax and a seax at her waist.

The woman had five cultists with her who were all carrying shotguns and other cultists who wore the same uniforms but had only Carolingian swords in their hands came over to the two spiders.

Miles dodged a cut from one of the swords and avoided Skapsilija’s attack, making him stab a cultist through the side of their chest. Miles kicked Skapsilija away from him and the cultist fell. The young Spider hot two impact webs and sent two of the cultists to the wall, Miles shot two splitter webs and clogged four of the shotguns of the personal guard the woman had.

Peter shot a splitter web of his own and clogged the shotguns of a few cultists that were coming over to him, he shot a high tensile strength web at a nearby pile of debris and yanked the least stable part of it away, making rubble fall onto the cultists. It was not too heavy to kill them but it would hurt later on. Five of them had gone down from that. Fourteen cultists were knocked out now.

Peter smirked when he saw two of them get lifted into the air and be webbed up there, the white hooded figure landing in their place. He dodged the next attack that came from Skapsilija and caught his arm this time, their wrists touching and Peter grabbing a hold of the other wrist to prevent being stabbed. “You can't win Skapsilija, you're nothing like the original, you're just a cheap knockoff!”

“That's what you think, but since we're brother's, why don't you call me Kaine you goodie two shoes!” Kaine ripped his arm away and elbowed Pete in the side as he did a turn to rip his other arm away. Before Kaine could raise his blades and kill Peter Gwen shot webs at them and yanked back, sticking them to the ground.

As Kaine struggled Peter kicked him away, “Alright. Kaine, guess I'm Abel, but this time we're changing the story!” He kicked Kaine back and shot rapid fire webs at a cultist who was running to him. He spun them around before throwing them at Kaine who had barely gotten back up.

Kaine dodged the attack and threw a chunk of debris at Peter. Kaine caught a hold of the debris when Peter used his webs to throw it right back. He looked around and saw that seventeen of the cultists were down, making him glare as the eighteenth went down from Miles kicking one in the chest and Gwendolyn using her feet to flip the cultist onto the ground and choke them to unconsciousness with her thighs.

Kaine shot webs at them and smirked when Miles broke free but became occupied with fighting two cultists at once to defend Gwendolyn. Kaine returned his attention to Peter, dashing at him and giving a warrior like cry.

As Kaine tried to make several cuts Peter avoided them by jumping or ducking. “neither of us has to die the cult is just using you!” Peter said, shooting webs at Kaine's wrists and yanking the other man against him, giving him a headbutt that made him fall back.

Kaine groaned and rubbed his head as he looked up at Peter. “That's what you think. . .” Kaine shot a web at a support beam in Grand Central and pulled it. “Save your friends,” he said, smirking as debris landed on top of Gwen and Miles.

Peter went wide eyes before he ran over, beginning to lift the debris with his super strength, the five elite guards making their way over, their shotguns still clogged with Miles’ webbing. Peter groaned as he lifted the debris completely and Miles quickly made his way out, Gwen's legs were bruised up since she was without super durability and strength, so Peter set her in a safe vantage point. When he looked back over to where Kaine had been he found the man was gone and at the window ledge.

Kaine lifted his mask, exposing his face, a face identical to Peter's. He smirked directly at Peter, looking in his eyes before he jumped out the window and swung away, his mask going back on.

Peter looked over at Miles and nodded “We gotta stop them, we'll find that Kaine guy later!”

Miles nodded in response before he shot a web at a Carolingian sword and brought it to his hand, grasping it tightly. As one of the elite guards charged towards him with the bayonet prepared. “Uh, Spidey, why does he look like you?” Miles asked on the internal communications, parrying an attack from the bayonet, moving the weapon to the left and kneeing the cultist in the stomach.

Peter groaned, “I don’t know Kid, magic maybe? It wouldn’t be the first time we dealt with magic in our lives!” Peter caught the weapon by the magazine, the front sight turned away from him. Peter yanked the shotgun away and hit the cultist in the liver with the recoil end, making them fall over unconscious.

Gwen grabbed a hold of a metal pole that was nearby using a web. She took aim and threw it at one of the cultists, hitting them in the shoulder and making them fall to the ground. Gwen shot webs at their feet and dragged them over to her, covering them with webs till they were properly pinned down.

While Miles was occupied with the last two cultists Peter put his eyes to the leader of the group, “Catherine Andersen,” He began chasing after her once she bolted up the stairs in one of the sections of Grand Central, Peter was about to call Felicia when Alexander suddenly rang.

“What is it?” Peter asked as he shot webs at the ceiling and swung over to Catherine, looking into her eyes that were glowing white.

“Hey, I’m pretty sure I found the leader of this little cult gang in Manhattan, meet me in Maiden Lane when you’re done there, I’ll give you more details later.”

“Wait, but-” Peter growled when Karen told him that Alexander had hung up, “That guy is seriously getting on my nerves,” Peter avoided the thrust that was made against him then moved out of the way of a slash. Peter shot a web at the gun and made it turn, the shotgun round going off and making a massive hole in the nearby wall. Peter kicked Catherine’s hand, “Didn’t anyone tell you, business people, not to play with guns?”

Catherine found her shotgun stuck to the ceiling soon enough and she grabbed a hold of the knives at her waist, the scramasax in her right hand and the seax in her left. Peter grabbed a hold of a Carolingian that had been on the ground and he finally found time to call Felicia.

“He-llo, Spidey?” She asked.

“Black Cat, there are a few complications, can you go to Staten Island and check up on Red? White Widow got a little injured and she’s gonna go to the hospital, we’re at Grand Central,” Peter said, getting into a bind with the scramasax, their guards were close to one another before Peter kicked Catherine away from him and brought his pommel against her shoulder, making her groan in pain.

“She’s what?” Felicia said shocked, “ What hospital is she going to, why wasn’t I told sooner?” Felicia seemed worried as she spoke now.

“She’s gonna be fine Black Cat, Just go to Staten, Red might be in danger and Arachnid is gonna go with Widow, she only hurt her leg a bit! If someone who looks like me in a red spider suit shows up get Umbra out of there, that’s not me, they just look like me! Ask them your name!”

“Would you kindly get _off_ the phone?” Catherine asked as she stabbed Peter in the leg, the cut going across his thigh, it was not too deep and it was mostly just broken skin. Peter tried to parry the next blow but he found the Carolingian skillfully tossed from his hand. Peter jumped back to avoid the next attack. He soon came up with an idea and dashed away from his target, being chased by her while he talked to Felicia.

“Okay, okay! But you better make sure she’s gonna be okay, I can’t lose her. . . she’s all I got.”

Peter responded quickly as he shot a trip mine at a wall and stood a distance away from it, so that way Catherine would be captured when she came through. “She’ll be fine, I’m gonna put a stop to this  _tonight_ , and after that, we’re going after this ‘Allmother,’” Peter hung up and grinned when he heard Catherine scream. The scream was soon replaced with a groan and plenty of swears in Old Norse.

Peter came over to her and listened to her words, “Just because I have been defeated does not mean you will survive, You’ll die tonight at the hand of Kaine, Spider-Man, may God choose the proper sacrifice this time!” Peter rolled his eyes at her, grabbing the mask and taking it off of her. He looked into her blue eyes.

“You’re absolutely pathetic,” Peter said calmly as he looked inside of the mask, taking the little note out so he could read it. He took the twin blades from her and tossed them to the side, walking off. Peter walked over to Miles who was wrapping the two cultists that were left up against each other, “Hey kid, good job taking them down, let’s see what this next note is,” Peter looked over the note and spoke aloud, “ _Daughter A., do not trust Brother J not matter what, I have reason to believe that he’s been leading Spider-Man to our brother’s and sisters, and has been using it at his precinct to get promotions. If you see that_ _pig_ _you capture him and you bring him to the temple at Saint Paul’s. Safe works to you, my Daughter. - Mother A._ ”

Miles looked over at Peter, “leading you to them? Could they be talking about that cop who’s been helping us?” Miles asked the younger spider did not know the officer’s name, but the indications of _pig_ and _precinct_ gave him a hint of what was going down.

“That’s something I’ve gotta find out, Miles. Take Gwen to the hospital with the paramedics, I’m gonna confront Jameson. And if you see someone who looks like me you ask them their name before they get within hand-holding distance, understand me, kid?” Peter asked, allowing the nanotech on his hand to move into his wrist, he began shooting webbing on his hand like a bandage. The cut hurt pretty badly but his powers made it feel like a bit of a tingle. He would be healed up in a few days time. Peter clenched his hand into a fist and unclenched as the vibranium formed over his hand once more, he would be more careful of Kaine’s wrist weapons that had vibranium tips.

As the paramedics arrived Miles and Gwen had hidden and changed into their civilian clothes. The two spiders covered their clothes in the dirt that came from the debris around. Miles lifted Gwen, helping her walk by placing one of her arms around his shoulder and one of his arms at her waist. “Sirs, we need help!” Miles said helping Gwen over to the medics who immediately put them both on the wheeled stretchers.

“Our names are Miles and Gwen, my friend hurt her leg in the explosion,” Miles said, and he was interrupted by his father who arrived on the scene and went over to hug him.

“Miles?” Jefferson said worriedly, grabbing his son tightly and touched upon his face to see if he was, in fact, safe and healthy. “What are you doing here, you should be at home!”

“I was gonna meet Ganke for homework right now and then everything just fell on top of us!” Miles looked up at his father with crocodile tears in his eyes.

Jefferson glared at his son with the paramedics behind him, he knew his son was lying, he had heard him leave the house early this morning with that Spider-Man. “Son, did you see which way Spider-Man went?”

“No, dad, but I did see two Spiders, they were the same height and one of them had knives coming out of his arms! The other one had a guy with him and they were helping civilians, then a girl showed up who was shooting webs. They’re all gone though, I think the Spider-Man in the mainly red suit’s the one who caused the explosion!”

Jefferson nodded gently and patted his son on the back gently, “Try and get some rest while the paramedics do their thing, I hope your friend Gwen is gonna be okay,” Jefferson walked off towards the cultists who were knocked out on the ground. He was impressed that his son and two others had taken down all of these thugs on their own, and apparently spared with someone who was probably stronger than the original Spider-Man.

Jefferson went around, hung cuffing cultists and removing their masks with their weapons. Other cops were on the scene as well, including Jefferson’s partner. Soon enough, the cultists were all cuffed and being put into the large transport vehicle where they would be transported to temporary lockups so they could be put on trial.

Peter clenched his left hand once more before experimentally wiggling his fingers. He fired a web with slight strain then began swinging from the garment district to the financial district, where he was supposed to meet the officer who had been leading him through the cult's ranks in only a few days. Peter was hoping to whatever power may be there that Alexander Jameson was not a part of this cult, with his luck, however, it would be more likely than not that this man was too a part of the cult and had been stringing him along to gain more power in the police department.

Peter narrowed his eyes as he finally arrived at Maiden Lane but stood on top of a building as Felicia sent him a text message. Peter sighed in relief before he had Karen text her back. _Thanks for checking up on Joey for me. I was worried about him. Try and get back to Manhattan, at Saint Paul's. We’re gonna finish them tonight, all of us, while Miles and Gwen are in the hospital._ Peter looked at the time with a sigh before he jumped down from the building into one of the nearby alleyways on Maiden Lane.

Six-fifty in the evening.

 

**_Chapter V._ _Like a streak of light_**

Peter landed safely in the alleyway and he looked around for any sign of the man who he was to meet. Peter felt the warmth of the sun dissipating into a horrifying, dark nothingness as the stars gave rise to their own reign, a despotism too far to even consider fighting it. “Jameson?” Peter asked as he walked deeper into the darkness of the alleyway till he saw a set of eyes looking back into his, and Jameson emerged from the shadows with a large coat on that a detective usually wore. He had a pair of glasses on as well this time accompanied by his hat.

“Spider-Man, good to see ya. I’ve got info on the head honcho in charge now, they’re having a meeting at Saint Paul’s tonight,” It was then that Jameson stopped talking to look into Peter’s lenses, realizing something was on his mind, “Is something the matter?”

“Yeah, y’know, I been wondering, _where_ and _how_ do you get all this information, the cult isn’t sloppy, you saw that with the attack at Grand Central, they’re well coordinated and only strike when no one suspects them. They’re evil but they’re not stupid. So, Jameson, how do you get this info?”

Jameson smiled faintly, “Just _what_ are you implying here, wallcrawler?” Jameson put his hand behind his back, “You think that I’m in league with the cultists who bombed my own home? Why would I work with monsters like that?” Jameson daringly looked in Peter’s eyes, trying to convey some sense of confidence, some sense that he was telling the truth about the situation.

“I never said you were working with ‘em, but thanks for giving the truth away so easily,” Peter replied, smirking directly at Jameson behind his mask, “You made it worth my while, Jameson, now turn yourself in before this gets ugly.”

In return, Jameson gave a scowl, looking into those lenses, “That's the problem with you ‘superheroes,’ you know? You’re a bunch of wise guys who think you're gods nowadays. The problem is, you can't realise that _you're_ what's wrong with the world. You cause all the pain and suffering, you caused the 2008 invasion! Loki saw your sin and said that he needed to right this wrong, so he came, and he saw my suffering and decided that I would help Manhattan revive with his aid! So we made this,” Jameson stepped to the side.

Kaine stepped out of the shadows, the wrist blade on his right arm was out, the white bone shining from the few street lights nearby. “Spider,” Kaine said, “Good to see you again,” he was being sarcastic as he approached.

“Loki has given me all, and I worship him for that Spider-Man, but you could never understand what it means to desire a world of true peace!” Jameson looked over at Kaine, staring into the red lenses. “Handle the fool.”

“Gladly,” Kaine said, and as Jameson looked over at Peter with a smirk on his face that same smirk was wiped away. Kaine removed his mask, leaning to Jameson's ear, whispering in it. The bone blade had gone through the side of Jameson's neck, breaking the skin on the other side, the tip barely visible. “The fool is dead, long live the fool. . . For all your praises of Loki, you still betrayed your brethren, and for what? Some Midgardian titles at a law enforcement agency? Damned traitor, the mother was right.”

Jameson grabbed at Kaine's arm desperately in his last moments of life, and as Kaine ripped the blade out of Jameson's neck, said man fell to the ground, thrashing around weakly, trying to cover his neck which was pouring out a stream of crimson.

Kaine stood beyond the man who was becoming a corpse, looking into Peter's lenses. “You know, if you back down and run off now, I won't have to kill you. You can go live somewhere else and it'll be like this never happened. . .” Kaine’s blade was dripping the crimson on the ground.

“And why would you make such a ‘gracious’ offer, Kaine?” Peter asked, looking at the other man, the man who shared a face and body with him now. Peter was ready to spring into action once the opportunity opened for him.

“Because, Cain and Abel were still brothers, and a brother has to offer his other half a chance at life. So, I'm giving you this chance, Parker. Leave now. And don't come back, otherwise, you _will_ meet your end at my blade,” Kaine continued to hold his eye contact.

Peter glared before he began shooting rapid fire webs at Kaine, saying, “The thing about heroes is that we don't give up when threatened!” Kaine had allowed himself to be webbed up like a mummy except for the head, and Peter smirked until Kaine cut the webs with his blades. “How are you a Spider with _stingers_ , that's not how it works! Are you an arachnid or a bee?”

“I think you're a pest is what you are!” Kaine responded as he charged at Peter, avoiding the webs that were shot at him. Kaine eventually gave Peter an uppercut which sent him falling back against the ground. Unlike Peter, this man's style was focused more on his fists and complemented by his footwork, the very inverse of how Peter fought.

When the man swung a fist Peter would manage who kick it out of his way kept of the time. Once in a while, he would be hit in the chest or jaw. When Peter would attack the other man he would find his feet caught by hands or blocked, managing to only get certain kicked in here and there.

Peter caught Kaine's wrist with his forearm, blocking one of the blades and managing to avoid the other, shooting a web at Kaine's hand which covered the weapon with adhesive webbing. Peter put his foot to Kaine's chest and kicked the other spider back from him.

In return Kaine kept from a wall and tackled Peter to the ground, hitting him in the chest and face with his fists, the red lenses of the mask that Kaine had out back on were glowing in the light of the street sign as Peter's head turned from left to right with each punch. When Peter managed to so he a punch Kaine brought out his blade and tried to stab Peter, only to find his bone impaled in the ground. He pulled it out and groaned in pain once Peter kicked him in the crotch, making him hunch over in pain while Peter got up.

Peter gave the other spider a harsh kick to the side, soon taunting Kaine, “What’s the matter? Can’t handle a couple of kicks?” Peter dodged an attack from Kaine that came in the form of a punch. Peter let out a harsh groan of pain when he found a blade in his shoulder, he kicked Kaine in the side once more and got the other man away from him. After that, he shot a web at a nearby wire gat, yanking it down so that it would fall on top of Kaine.

The other spider rolled out of the way of the fence and shot a web at Peter’s face, hitting his eyes, Kaine’s two bone weapons came out of his wrists and he charged at Peter, “Time to get stung!” Kaine thrust the stinger at Peter’s neck and groaned in pain as an arrow hit his hand, “ _Son of a-_ ” Kaine looked in the direction of the arrow, glaring as he saw Jóżef. “Well hey there, cutie pie, you sure did recover fast!”

Jóżef glared at the other spider and drew back another arrow, firing at Kaine who managed to avoid the arrow. Peter kicked Kaine in the side of the head but the spider stood his ground. Felicia dropped down after that, her claws ran down Kaine’s back and barely scratched through the fabric of his suit.

Kaine looked back and glared at Felicia, “You just had to show up now, didn’t you? You always get involved with things that don’t concern you!”

“Where did you even come from?” Peter asked, his tone demanding as he looked at Kaine in a readied stance, prepared to take him down as swiftly as possible now that his allies had arrived.

Kaine narrowed his eyes at Peter, “I came from you, and all of your past mistakes, Parker,” He elbowed Felicia in the face before she could avoid the hit, he jumped into the air and kicked his twin in the chest, making Felicia, Peter, and himself fall down from the recoil. Kaine shot a web at Jóżef’s eyes and once the archer was blinded he shot a flash web at the ground, swinging away afterwards.

Peter stood up, his vision was overwhelmingly _fuzzy like_ a great blur had consumed the world. He leaned on a wall and sat down, rubbing his eyes. It had been exactly thirty seconds before Peter’s vision came back properly, making him look around for any possible danger. Felicia was alright as well, her vision had come back a bit earlier than Peter’s.

“Which way did he go?” Jóżef asked on the communications, holding a rifle now in hopes of taking Kaine down while he was trying to escape. The archer threw the webbing to the side as he looked through the scope of the weapon, noticing a random spark of bright light in the distance, “What, the hell?”

Peter had scrambled over to Jameson's body, looking through the pockets of the cultist, trying to find any evidence of Jameson being in league with the cult. Peter turned the man’s coat to the side and looked at the porcelain mask inside of it, he took out the mask, looking at the intricate symbols carved into the mask and filled in with dark red paint. The paint smelled of blood, resin, an industrial solvent, and additives. Peter went into the other coat pocket and found little vials of said paint along with a needlepoint dagger, it was likely that Jameson intended to kill Peter when the leader of the cult was gone, it seemed as though a different needle got to him already.

Peter found the little note wrapped around the handle of the dagger and he took it, reading it aloud for his partners to hear, “ _Dear brother J., You are to report to the Chapel tonight for the worship ceremony, it is extremely important considering that many of our brothers and sisters have been taken from us in recent days. Your temple at the church which intersects Henry and Montgomery Streets has been evacuated for safety purposes in light of our recent aggressive policy against the city. We are stronger than we are apart, and from the Chaos rises the order, may Loki be praised. - Mother A._ ”

“Guys, we’ve got a target on the horizon, coming at us real fast, get ready!” Jóżef said over the communications, taking aim with his rifle and making sure he was in a position that gave him a perfect sight of the bright light in the shape of a human that got closer. It was too fast to shoot without risking misfire, but once it stopped he would fire if it was dangerous.

Peter had his web shooters prepared and Felicia had her claws, by the time the light made it to them it flashed brightly, blinding the three for a moment, as their vision came back they were greeted by the sight of a horribly wounded man.

The man was missing his ring and middle finger on his left hand, one of his eyes was gone with a massive scar from his forehead to his chin, with the eye in the pathway. He had magnificent dark hair. His left forearm seemed to have been torn in half and reconnected by surgery. His nose seemed to be stitched back on, his right forearm seemed was reattached as well. There were scars all over his arms and his legs, there were likely others on his back and front torso that they could not see due to the clothes he wore. His one natural eye was a blue that was clear as crystal.

“Who are you?” Felicia asked, prowling down to pounce on the stranger if he became dangerous. He did have on a set of silver and black armour after all, which featured pauldrons that appeared silver. Before answering his clothes began to change, the pauldrons became firm against his body, a long sleeve shirt came over his body, his clothes were mostly grey with hints of black, his pants were black with black boots, he wore greaves which appeared silver. He had vambraces that covered the backs of his hand and a set of black gloves which covered his scarred hands.

“I, mortal, am Narfi. Son of Sigyn and Loki, twin brother of Váli. Who are you?” The man asked, the two weapons at his waist seemed close enough to be drawn, drawing Peter to nervousness.

Felicia stood up properly and made Peter stand up correctly as well, “We are Felicia and Peter, that man up there is our friend Jóżef. You say you are an Asgardian? What are you doing here?” Felicia was not surprised by the idea of an Asgardian coming here, especially since a cult dedicated to Loki was on Earth and was responsible for most of the damage happening in the city now, “And why do you not live in New Asgard now?” The Asgardians, through their king Thor, had received a small plot of land which would house and feed all of the remaining Asgardians. It was essentially a part of the city, where the Asgardians independently ran themselves but were still subjected to certain mortal laws.

“Because the Asgardians killed me,” Narfi replied, looking at the three heroes, Jóżef having joined them only a mere second ago. He watched their reactions with a raised eyebrow, it was impossible for someone to come back from the dead, even an Asgardian!

“If you _are_ an Asgardian and you died how are you here? You expect us to believe that a zombie Asgardian is walking around?” Jóżef questioned, taking out his custom pistol to take down this so-called God.

Narfi leaned back against the wall closest to him, looking at the three heroes with his one good eye, the glass eye shining slightly in the darkness, “Let me tell you a story of the Price of Asgard, Narfi Lokason,” Narfi started:

“It began one day with my father, Loki Laufeyson, he saw that the Æsir of Asgard had taken one of their fellow Æsir, a God by the name of Baldr the Good, who had many dreams of his life being put his peril, so, he took his words to the other gods and they brought themselves together to give Baldr good counsel.

“They decided to send Frigg, his mother across all of the realms to create a spell that would give Baldr invincibility from all things that do harm. Once she created this and gave it to Baldr he took of it and became invincible to all but mistletoe.

“My father saw of this and became displeased, so he spoke to the Goddess Frigg and asked her if there was anything she did not make an oath with or include in her spell, disguised as my grandfather Óðinn. Then Frigg spake: ‘Only mistletoe could harm our son, but what could one do with that?’ and Loki, disguised as Óðinn smiled.

“So then Loki went to the little tree that was young as me and my brother and ripped it from the roots, scattering its seeds into the ground so that it might possibly grow again, and appear as if he had done no damage. He fashioned a dart from the wood of the mistletoe and went to Hӧldr, the twin of Baldr, and asked him why he was not throwing things of all manner at his brother since everything bounced off of him and he could not be hurt. Hӧldr spake: ‘Pity on me, I am blind and can not my brother; more so, I am weaponless!’

Loki then said to Hӧldr, ‘I have a weapon for you to use and I will help you aim,’ when Hӧldr agreed, not knowing it was made of mistletoe, Loki put the dart of mistletoe in his hand and helped him aim, then he made the twin of Baldr throw the dart. Baldr the Good fell dead and went to Helheim where my sister lies in reign.

“Frigg came down from the palace of Asgard and spake: ‘Woe is me, my son has been slain! Who is responsible for such a tragedy?’ But the Gods, even the mighty Thor, were caught in their great weeping which shook the whole of the nine realms. Frigg asked who would seek to gain all of her love and favour, and if he should come forward he must ride to Helheim and offer a ransom for her son Baldr’s return. Hermódr, the Bold, came forward. He took my half-brother, the eight-legged steed of Óðinn, Sleipnir, and rode him to Helheim.

“The Gods then took the body of Baldr to his ship where it was borne out on shipboard. His wife, Nanna saw this and from grief, she took to death, and she was borne out to the pyre. Many people came to the burning.

“Hermódr rode nine nights through dark dales and deep so that he saw not before he was come to the river Gjöll and rode onto the Gjöll-Bridge, guarded by Módgudr. She asked him who he was, for he did not look to be among the dead men who ride this bridge and demanded he tell his business riding on Sleipnir. He answered: ‘I am appointed to ride to Helheim and find Baldr the Good, have you seen him?’ She said that Baldr had ridden there over Gjöll's Bridge, and gave him directions to the Gate of Helheim

“Hermódr rode into Helheim and went to a hall, finding in the high-seat Baldr, his brother; and Hermódr went there with stealth overnight. In the morning, Hermódr prayed Hel that Baldr might ride home with him, and spoke of the great weeping of the Gods, asking that he be allowed to ride home to his loved ones. Hel spake: ‘If all things in the world, quick and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Æsir; but he shall remain with Hel if any gainsay it or will not weep.’ Hermódr arose and Baldr led him out, he took the ring Draupnir and sent it to Odin for a remembrance. And Nanna sent Frigg a linen smock and other things and to Fulla a golden finger-ring.

“Then Hermódr rode his way back, and came into Ásgard, he told his fellow Gods that all things are to weep in order to bring back Baldr, so they did, they sent out messengers to tell others of what had happened so they may weep as well, and they did except for one. She called herself Thökk. They prayed her to weep Baldr out of Helheim; she answered: ‘Thökk will weep waterless tears For Baldr's bale-fare. Living or dead, I loved not the churl's son; Let Hel hold to that she hath!’ And men deem that she who was there was my father in disguise the man who caused this!”

“How is this about you?” Jóżef had asked, only to have Narfi respond that he was getting too that part.

So, Narfi continued:

“Then, Gangleri, one of the Gods suggested that Loki should suffer pain so great that he be made bitter to the world around him, so he arrived to the home of Sigyn, my mother, and took me and my brother from her arms while she screamed. We were Youths who were in adolescence.

“With the princes of Asgard, Narfi and Váli in their possession, they took us to the home our father had made which held four doors so that he may look in every direction and see who approaches. Loki often turned himself into a salmon to hide in the stream but the Gods were not fooled. They chained me and my brother to a nearby rock and made a net, where Loki swam inside of it and was hauled up. He was caught in the hands of his brother, Thor and Thor had such difficulty with holding the fish that he told Loki to return to his true form at once or be crushed with Mjölnir. So Loki returned to his true form at once.

“The Gods then led us to a certain cave where they stacked three flat stones and had made holes in them, Loki was confused as there were no ropes which would go through the holes or chains, and that was when Gangleri turned my brother into a wolf that was ferocious and like other wolves had no mind, my brother tore my body to pieces and I watched with the one eye that remain as they tied my father to the stone using my entrails, which they turned to stone.

“When they finished they cast my brother and I to Helheim, where my sister Hel took Vili and made him the guard of her gate and her pet, for he had eight eyes, unlike a normal wolf. My body was sewn back together and my brother was given back his mind and became distressed when he saw what he had done to me. I have had these scars ever since.

One day my sister took to kicking Váli and when I tried to stop her she struck me, we were both in our latter half of becoming men, and thus were still frightened by our Giantess sister.

We resorted to playing tricks as our father would do and eventually Hel became tired of our actions, casting me to labour and putting a collar on my brother. So I toiled for centuries until one day Hel left the land of Helheim, to start something dedicated to our Father Loki.

I took my chance to leave and went to her palace of the dead to find my brother but he was not there, she had taken him with her. So, I went to her collection of the armours of the dead who did not go to Valhöll or any other land of the dead and I took her cursed set of twin axes and parts of armour. I visited Ægir and Rán in the land under the seas where the drowned sailors lie and they gave to me a set of true armour that I may fight against my sister with strength.

“They sent me to Freya in her Fólkvangr and asked her to tell me how I should defeat my sister, and she spake, using the powers of sorcery known as seiðr:

“‘Your sister is foolish, and wishes to control the land of man with her father as the figurehead, travel to Midgard in order to protect New Asgard from her clutches, you will find six people who will aid you in the fight, one is a cat, the other a chameleon, the last four are spiders. You will meet the cat, chameleon, and one of the spiders first, and with their help you shall fight a woman named Andersen, who will be defeated by the spider who tried to kill the others and was made of an arcane dark magic and the blood of a spider to resemble him as a brother. Your sister shall be slain by you and another, you shall have your brother after she is gone, for she is the one who keeps the curse of his wolfdom alive. Take with you this fruit of Yggdrasill, brought to greater growth through Oðinn’s holy blood, this fruit was grown from Yggdrasill in my field and holds in it the power of life, if you eat it you shall be the ruler of life to be against your sister Hel, the incarnation of death.’

“So, then she took me to the gate of the end and I was sent straight forth to you all, the Cat, the Spider. . . and I hope you’re a Chameleon,” Narfi pointed at Jóżef which made the Polish man nod and roll his eyes.

“So, you’re here to help us end the cult of Loki?” Peter asked, placing his hands on his hips as he looked over to his partner. When Narfi affirmed that he did Peter approached Jóżef, “Did you. . . do anything with Kaine?” He asked, his eyes filling with tears behind his mask.

“Yes, but I thought he was you until he knocked me out. I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Jóżef’s eyes were welling with tears as Peter removed his mask and the Polish man reached out to wipe them away with his thumb.

Peter set his hand on Jóżef’s and sniffled in sadness at what had been told to him, “Alright, I forgive you. . . It wasn’t your fault that Kaine looks and sounds like me. The note says that the meeting is taking place at Saint Paul’s Chapel, let’s get there and catch Andersen before she gets away,” Peter was still overwhelmed by the sadness he felt, he could not believe that his partner had slept with another man, but that man was _him_ , and he knew it would be impossible for Jóżef to tell that Kaine was a clone.

Felicia nodded and looked at Narfi, “I assume you can fly,” Narfi shook his head as a negative and at that point Felicia took out her grappling guns, “Alright, hop on, we’re going somewhere to find Andersen, Peter will lead us.”

Peter gave a nod as he moved away from Jóżef’s hand and wiped the remaining tears from his face. Peter put on his mask and stared at his superhero partners, “Let’s get going so we can put an end to this cult,” Peter allowed Jóżef to grab onto him then began swinging, Peter hoped that with a Norse god on their side they would be able to clear out the cult earlier, “And no killing them, Narf!”

“Understood, I will only kill my sister to prevent her from reigning over earth,” Narfi was holding onto Felicia, looking around at the city of New York with amazement in his eyes, “when this is over, I wish to see this place and be brought to New Asgard, so that my brother and I may be taken to our people and our father.”

Peter had no idea that Loki had died. None of them did.

 

**_Chapter VI. There go the Spider-Men?_ **

Peter, Felicia, Jóżef and Narfi were headed towards the Chapel that was dedicated to Saint Paul, as they eventually arrived they were able to find a place overlooking the chapel, staring at the entrance with four columns. “Karen, can you do a bit of recon for us?” He asked, watching as the spider drone came off of his chest and flew down. Peter was busy looking through the camera feed and Felicia was doing the same, Jóżef was off in his thoughts, however, and Narfi was busy fiddling with the armour he now wore.

Peter looked over at Felicia through one of the lenses, “Do you see what I see?” He asked, regarding the unconscious bodies on the ground. There were about five or six cultists who were on their sides and turned over against the wall, webbed up there. “I hope it's not Kaine having a murder fest like at the last base.”

“Wait he had what?” Felicia asked as she looked at the footage as well, the webbing was very intricate and seemed to have a unique more organic patterning. The cultists had even been wrapped up in cocoons and their masks were removed.

“Yeah, when we went to one of the temples this guy who looks like me and calls himself Kaine had killed one of the cultists. He careful around him, he’s got these weapons that come out of his wrists, they’re like a yellow jacket stinger, he cut me right through the hand,” Peter replied as he looked at the footage once more, the first thing that came into focus was a man who was pretty short compared to himself in a melee with a cultist who was wielding a geirr.

“I’ll keep that in mind tonight, Narfi, try to stay as hidden as you can, understand? In fact, stay as far back as possible till you hear our signal,” Felicia handed him a little earpiece that connected to their private comms, “You’re a warrior, not a stealth operations specialist.”

“A what?” Narfi asked as he put the earpiece in, looking into Felicia’s eyes. She seemed distracted.

Felicia was focusing on the man who jumped over the cultist and kicked them into the wall, swiftly webbing them up afterwards, “Someone who knows how not to get caught, someone like me,” Felicia replied as she began making her way down the building, Jóżef swiftly following behind her.

Peter looked over at Narfi and held his hand out to the Asgardian, helping him down to the ground once more. Peter snuck towards the church, the four of them moving as a unit till four became three as Narfi was ordered by Felicia to hold back.

Narfi assumed someone as authoritative as Felicia was the leader, and he gave her his utmost respect. Narfi stayed back as the others went in.

Felicia snuck into a deeper part of the chapel near the back, passing by the unconscious bodies, they had split up and gone through the other pews, finding one body webbed down to the Pew. There were ten cultists in total knocked out in the main part of the chapel.

Peter eventually found a person crouching down while regarding the entrance to the lower levels, hidden off from the world. Peter grabbed them by the wrists and pinned them down. “Who are you?” He questioned.

“Uh. . . Spidey, it's me, Miles,” The other man responded before Peter finally let him go. Miles rubbed his wrists and looked over at Peter as Felicia and Jóżef came over to the entrance of the cry, ignoring as Felicia talked to someone on her comms while Peter began speaking to him.

“Miles, what are you doing here?” Peter asked, folding his arms as he looked down at the teenage web-slinger, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at the young man.

“Uh, you gave a teenager what's likely a multi-thousand, or even multi-million dollar suit you put together in a little shop with a GPS and a private communication system. Did you think I wouldn't know to listen into the convo so I'd know what was going on? I heard about the temple being under Saint Paul's, and since I wasn't I hurt I snuck out of the hospital and came as quick as I could. When I got here the church was closed so I came through the roof and there were like ten guys here so I knocked them out. Where were you?”

“We ran into a few complications with that cop, Jameson was working for the cult and that guy with the stingers showed back up. We also met an Asgardian who's on a vendetta to help us and then we came here,” Peter kept his eyes on Miles. “What you did took guts kid, I'm proud of you.”

“You mean that?” Miles asked a little grin on his face that was shown by the way his eyes changed.

“Yeah, but it was dangerous, so be more careful next time, and wait on us to get here. We're a team Miles, and going up against these creeps after they have you know who on their side alone isn't a wise decision,” Peter folded his arms now, trying to act as more of a mentor than a friend. He did not want Miles to get hurt.

“Yeah. . . Thanks, Pete, I'll keep that in mind,” Miles replied as he looked over at the entrance to the lower part of the chapel and opened the small door, walking through it now.

Peter followed after Miles as Narfi came over when Felicia told him to move up. Jóżef was following close behind Peter and even held his hand for reassurance that the other man was not mad. Peter held Jóżef's hand back, not as tightly but tight enough to calm him as they walked into the bowels of the church.

Felicia could feel the tension between her two friends, and it rather upset her as she walked down the stairs behind them, Narfi sticking close to her as they made their way through the illuminated staircase, the candles barely flickering.

As they came to the bottom of the stairs they were met with a rickety old door, which Peter gently pushed open, night vision turning on as it was revealed that there were no candles down here. Not a light or the slightest flicker of electrical civilization, these appeared to be a set of old colonial tunnels. The wood was rotten but the cement of the brick was holding up properly.

Peter took point, leading the group through the tunnel which involved him zipping over to a metal pole which appeared to be recently installed, the gap in the chasm appeared to be too wide for a normal person to even attempt jumping to the balanced pole to the other side of the chasm. Peter looked at Mikes, speaking, “Miles, we're gonna combine our webs to be extra strong, and we'll use those to make a bridge. On three: one. . . Two. . .”

“Three,” Miles said as he shot a web and it connected with Peter’s the two webs wrapped around one another. Miles set them at either side of the ground and repeated the process with Peter, making diagonal webs that got closer to the centre as time went on, something akin to a clock’s hands moving. Once the bridge was prepared Felicia took the first step across it.

Narfi went second, his heavy footsteps causing the extra strength webs to begin snapping, when he got across the web made bridge Jóżef carefully traversed across it, the webs snapping due to the added tension. Peter groaned in annoyance before Miles jumped clear across the chasm, landing perfectly on his feet.

“Tada,” Miles said with a smirk under his mask, following behind Peter as the man took point, “So, do you think I’m ready for taking down a cult leader on my own?” Miles certainly thought he was, after the amount of work he had done with Peter already. He felt sure of himself.

“Not quite, but you’ll get there, Miles,” Peter smiled and wrapped an arm around Miles’ shoulder as he continued to walk through the catacombs of the city. As they got deeper Peter heard the sounds of footsteps at an intersection. The Spider held up his hand and went forward as his party stopped at his command. Peter snuck into the intersection and went inside the corridor. Making a left turn. He jumped to the ceiling and crawled across it as he saw a cultist carrying a rifle walk past him along with another standing at the door, blocking it. Peter would need to be careful about how he took down the two cultists, if he missed a beat they would yell out and alert the other cultists.

Peter waited a brief moment before he fired a web at the mouth of the cultist who was at the door, then he came down and shot two webs at the cultist who was walking behind him, yanking them down so they hit their head on the ground. Peter shot the feet of the cultist at the door and pulled them onto the ground. Afterwards, he shot a trip mine at the ceiling right in front of the cultist who had been walking, letting the trip mine wrap up the cultist while he manually tied up the other in a cocoon.

Peter went back to the intersection and told his allies to come forward, after they approached Jóżef took point, coming across a locked metal door. He looked up and found a small hole in the ceiling, his eyes going to Miles. “Think you could get through there and to the door?” He asked.

Miles gave him a thumbs up before crawling along the wall and into the hole. He began crawling through the tight space and towards where he thought the door was, once he moved the wooden panel that covered his entrance he clambered out. Miles stood and looked around, trying to position himself he headed down a corridor on the right and heard three people talking in a room. Miles looked into the room and before they could notice him he shot three impact webs, “peek-a-boo,” He walked into the room and searched their pockets, grabbing the key he could find on one of them, “Thanks,” He walked off and went to open the door for his teammates, “I got three of them.”

“Great,” Jóżef encouraged as he kept walking, hearing Peter state that there were only thirty-seven cultists left, all things considered. “Pete. . . I’ve been thinking.”

“What?” Peter asked as he kept walking, looking at the massive door, it was made of wood and seemed to be reinforced by metal in certain areas.

“This must be it,” Felicia said softly before Jóżef spoke again, listening to his words before responding. “If there’s a branch in Staten Island then we’ll take them down, together,” Felicia patted Jóżef on the shoulder and approached the door, examining it, “I think if we break off the hinges it’ll fall, but we’d be running into more than thirty armed cultists and there are only five of us.”

“Six,” Peter corrected, allowing the nine spider-bots he had left to fly beside him, “Karen’s still here, and these tasers are still ready to go,” Peter walked over to the door and shot a web at it, “Miles, come help me, get the other one, then we’ll wrap our webs together and pull as hard as we can.”

Miles went over and shot a web at the bottom hinge and the middle one, Peter shot a web at the top hinge and the middle one, then they began wrapping the middle webs together, afterwards the bottom and top ones were added to the middle ones. Peter and Miles stepped back to add tension and began pulling as hard as they could.

The spider-bots were positioned properly and the other teammates were at the sides of the door. Narfi had pulled out his axes and Jóżef had his bow ready. Felicia’s claws were prepared for the battle that was to come. As the door came down the spider-bots flew into the room, beginning to tase cultists and set up chains of electricity, catching many of their enemies in the trap.

Peter and Miles ran in after the spider-bots and Peter took a quick count of them while in a melee with a cultist. There were seven left, the sound of a loud yell coming from behind him. Peter jumped to the left, falling as he saw Kaine standing above the newly dead body of the cultist he had been fighting. Peter swallowed spit as Kaine looked over to him, the eyes of his mask erupted in red fire. “ _Fu-_ ”

Kaine charged at Peter quickly and stabbed at him, growling when Peter avoided each attack, noticing the axes tactical axes that were going around the room in the hands of an Asgardian, “once I kill you, I’ll kill him. . . Then I’ll take that brat of yours and put his head through a meat grinder.”

“Kaine, you can’t trust the cult, they’re using you and I have proof of it!”

Jóżef went after the leader of the cult who was holding a sword with a claidheamh mor and a porcelain mask. Jóżef pulled out the Trishula he had and blocked the downward swing he was given with the pole of the weapon, “Your cult is doomed, Andersen!” Jozef parried the attack and kicked Andersen off of the platform she was standing on.

When Andersen landed perfectly on the ground she blocked the counter-weight of the Trishula, kicking Jóżef in the midsection, making him back up. “You’re wrong there ‘hero,’ as long as the Allmother is here the order of Loki lives!” She charged at Jóżef.

Narfi and Felicia were busy working together, Narfi was using the back end of his axes to cause the least damage as possible. He was stabbing them with the spike end of his axes and kicking them back, Felicia would catch them with her feet then thrust them backwards, making them hit the wall. “You must show me to move like that!” Narfi said as he kicked one of the cultists into the wall before blocking one of their geirrs and giving them a hit with the blunt end of the tactical axe.

“Sure,” Felicia responded before sinking her claws into the shoulders of a cultist while in the air and throwing them at a nearby wall, “If you’ll teach me how to fight with those magical axes of your!” Felicia jumped over a cultist and kicked them forward, letting the spider-bot zap them quickly.

Miles had been in a fight with one of the cultists when he saw Jóżef on the ground, rolling from left to right to avoid the attacks from Andersen. Miles swung over with his feet forward, kicking Andersen in the back and shooting webs at her hands. “And stay down!” Miles said proudly before he noticed the note sticking out from her cloak pocket. Miles grabbed it and when he did his spidey-sense went off. He dodged the attack from a cultist and jum0ped to the ceiling of the large room, his eyes going wide as he read the note.

Miles swung past Peter and sighed when he saw Andersen get back up from the webbing and get in a fight with Jóżef once more, this time she had a cultist aiding her. Miles swung over to Peter with the note in his hand, avoiding a stab from one of Kaine’s stingers.

“Where’s this proof Spider? All you’ve given me is you jumping and dodging,” Kaine tried to stab at Miles once more when the teen handed Peter the note, grunting as he was dodged and ended up planting his stinger through the eye socket of a cultist. “ _Stop_ moving!” Kaine ordered, and caught Peter’s foot when it came towards his face, he tossed the other man towards the wall and approached Miles who was backing away in a combat stance.

Peter groaned, the world going black for a moment. He stood up and opened the note, “I’ve got it right here Kaine, I’ve got the proof!” Peter said, watching as Kaine turned around to look at him, his stinger coming out as he held Miles up, putting the stinger across Miles’ neck. Peter went cold.

“Alright, Spider-Man, tell me what this proof is, because if you fail to impress me the kid dies,” Kaine responded, holding Miles close to his blade.

Peter looked at Miles, nervous as he opened the note, “Okay, here’s what it says,” So Peter read it verbatim: “ _Dearest A., The Order within Manhattan has fallen, Skapsilija has_ _failed_ _us. I was wrong to believe that my strongest magic could make something mighty out of that Web-headed fool. When you see Skapsilija, let him try to kill Spider-Man, if he succeeds then we will have to kill him ourselves because he is too unstable to handle, many of our followers have fallen from his blade due to his vexes, better to put this failure in the garbage and handle it ourselves. -Your Beloved H._ ” Peter looked at Kaine and showed him the note, walking over to the other spider whose eyes began to narrow suspiciously.

Kaine’s stinger retracted into his body when he saw the note, written in the Allmother’s personal lover’s ink, in her own handwriting. That royal ruby red ink was only used by the Allmother when she wrote to Andersen, and that same pretty cursive. Kaine stole the note from Peter and pulled his mask off, his red eyes moving from the note to Peter with confusion, a whirlwind of hurt and anger in his eyes. Kaine looked over at Peter before he put his mask on, “Don’t mistake what I’m about to do for liking you.” Kaine shot a web over towards Andersen and as he soared through the air his stinger came out, finding itself impaled inside of Andersen’s stomach, making her gasp in pain and thrash, “You were going to kill me? To hell with you and with her. . .” Kaine looked over to his right when his spider-sense went off and he blocked the Carolingian sword that had come upon him, he gave a kick to the left as another cultist came at him.

Jóżef kicked the cultist when they were distracted and could not believe he was fighting alongside Kaine who was distracted by the other cultist. Andersen had rolled on her side in pain before the world went black around her.

Peter and Miles continued to fight with the other cultists while the spider-bots buzzed around, zapping cultists and helping the heroes bring the action to a close, the last cultists went down as Narfi pinned them to the ground with a pipe. Peter was panting softly and looked over to see Kaine ‘surrendering’ to Jóżef, which made him give a glare. The surrender came in the form of Kaine not leaving the temple and speaking with Peter’s man. Peter stood properly and approached the two of them, Narfi coming in close with Felicia walking next to him. Miles was going around and wrapping the cultists up together.

“Ross, you’ve gotta get let me go, I’m not your friend and I’m not your slave,” Kaine said, pulling his mask off to glare into Jóżef’s eyes before he gave a sarcastic remark, “Or do you miss having me in your lap that much?”

Jóżef glared at him, “You really should work on your attitude you sneaky bastard-

“‘Sneaky,’ really puts the ‘Spider,’ into ‘Spider-Man,’ don’t you think?” Kaine folded his arms and looked over at Peter who was about to speak.

“Listen Kaine, clearly you don’t like us, and I’m pretty sure we don’t like you either, but you’ve got freedom from that cult; You can _help_ us take it down and then we’ll all go about our merry ways, no one has to die tonight, today, or next year to stop this cult,” Peter saw Andersen trying to crawl away so he walked over and turned her over onto her back.

Andersen groaned in pain, yelling a few swears in Icelandic, “You can not defeat us, we will rule you, we will rule this world, and everlasting peace will be ours!”

Peter rolled his eyes before he webbed her mouth shut, “Hun, you’re asking for ‘peace,’ from the god of mischief. Could you be any denser?” He asked, looking over to Kaine who was walking over with the stinger of his right arm unsheathed. “Kaine, this woman is horrible, but she’s a pawn, make your decision, will you fight Hel or will you kill her?”

Kaine looked down at Andersen, glaring at her before the weapon sheathed itself and he kicked her, making her go unconscious, that was when a loud scream was heard, the other heroes turning to the direction to see Miles trapped underneath someone, his gloves torn off.

Miles thrashed around and as the cultist tried to stab the man Miles’ fist connected with their jaw, his hand sparking with red electricity as he sat up, watching the cultist fly into the wall already unconscious. “G-Guys,” He muttered, holding his hand up, looking at the electricity that sparked from it naturally.

“Lab. Now,” Jóżef said, his tone serious as Peter webbed up Andersen to make sure she could not get away when she woke up.

 

The Allmother was sitting in her chair, looking into the spear she held which housed a crystal in it, through which she practised seiðr after all that was deemed necessary and proper for it was done. She reached down, rubbing the eight-eyed wolf’s head as she looked into the crystal. He closed her eyes before she set the spear on its stand, looking at the wolf.

The Allmother smirked down at the black and blond haired wolf and rubbed his head affectionately, “Good boy. . . It looks like the bad people have finally found their way to us, let’s get going then.”

She stood up, her blond hair moving as she walked, the long length locks tied behind her head like a ponytail, the wolf following behind her, blinking his eight eyes. He had two columns of eyes, each column holding four beautiful blue eyes. “Váli, be a good boy and go fetch my cloak for me,” She walked into the meeting room as the wolf ran off, standing before the three cultists adorned in black and blue robes along with golden masks.

“Gentlemen it is time, no longer are we messing around with these vigilantes,” Her eyes began to glow a fiery red, her black cloak set on her back as she took it from Váli, who had come into the room. “We are no longer relying on our followers. We are raising our allies,” She summoned her staff, the crystal glowing with that same fire.

FINIS QUARTUS LIBER DE QUINQUE


End file.
